The King’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the UK. The awards were first established in 1965 and since then over 7000 companies have achieved a King’s Award. 2024 marks the second year of The King’s Awards for Enterprise, reflecting His Majesty The King’s desire to continue the legacy of HM Queen Elizabeth II’s by recognising outstanding UK businesses.
The awards celebrate the success of exciting and innovative businesses which are leading the way with pioneering products or services, delivering impressive social mobility programmes, or showing their commitment to excellent sustainable development practices.
The King’s Awards for Enterprise 2025 opened for applications on The King’s Coronation Day, 6th May and closes early-September 2024.
Almost all UK businesses (including non-profit) can apply, and the application process is free. All applications must be made online, and organisations may apply for more than one of the following categories:
International Trade
To apply for the International Trade award, you must also:
- have made a minimum of £100,000 in overseas sales in the first year of your entry and show year-on-year growth
- prove that your organisation has achieved outstanding growth in overseas earnings relative to your business size and sector
- prove steep year-on-year growth (without dips) in overseas sales over 3 years – or substantial year-on-year growth (without dips) over 6 years
Innovation
To apply for the Innovation award, you must also:
- have an innovation that has not been sold before
- have had your innovation available on the market for at least 2 years
- have recovered all the investments made in your innovation or show that the innovation will recover its full costs in future
- show outstanding commercial success as a result of innovation between 2 to 5 years
Your innovation should be in one of the following categories:
- invention, design or production of goods
- performance of services
- marketing and distribution
- after-sale support of goods or services
Sustainable Development
To apply for the Sustainable Development award, you must also:
- show how you’ve achieved outstanding sustainable development for more than 2 years
- give evidence of the benefits or positive outcomes of your actions or interventions
- show how your company and its senior leaders pioneer sustainable development in your sector or community
- show how you’ve overcome challenges with sustainability that are specific to your sector
You can include examples, such as showing how you’ve:
- developed an innovative product, service or process that has environmental benefits
- made sustainability an essential part of your organisation, supply chain or community
Read the United Nations sustainable development goals to identify which goals are relevant to your work.
Promoting Opportunity through social mobility
To apply for this award, your organisation must have a programme that supports people from disadvantaged backgrounds in improving their job skills and their chances of finding work.
This includes doing one or more of the following, for at least 2 years:
- providing work experience or careers advice
- mentoring
- offering interview and job-related training
- making sure your recruitment process is open to everyone
You’ll need to prove the benefits for:
- the people you’ve supported
- your organisation
- your employees
- the wider community
You cannot apply if social mobility is the main focus of your organisation.
If you’re a training provider or educational organisation, you can only apply if you do one of the following:
- apply with a business
- have a social mobility initiative for your employees
For more information and to apply, please click on the button below.
