Only a week to go...

I can hardly believe that there is just 1 week left for entries to this very special Golden Jubilee year of the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. Remember everything must be signed off and submitted online by the end of Tuesday 30 September.

Calendar showing the 30th of the month (credit: calt="Calendar (credit: Dafne Cholet/CC BY 2.0) — Licence: Dafne Cholet/CC BY 2.0

As we hit the closing stages, slowly the entry numbers are creeping upwards. I would urge anyone thinking they don’t have the time to make the final push to do so; you’ve nothing to lose and so much to gain. We know from previous entrants that even the process of filling in the entry form reveals details about your business that you might have forgotten. On top of that, if you don’t make it through, you will get some detailed feedback on both the strengths of your entry and a steer on what more the judges might look for in a future application. For example, one piece of advice for one very small business (just 2 employees) was to consider factors such as how as a small, young company it could carry its success forward and keep that momentum while expanding the business. These are things that most businesses will consider in developing future business strategy, but perhaps not subjects that you would consider mentioning in an award application.

Winners are extremely proud to win an award – it validates your business model and is a very public expression of the success of your business. In the difficult business conditions that continue to persist, it is also a great boost to morale to win. In the words of one small business winner, “It can often feel that as a small business you are not taken as seriously as your bigger competitors and winning this Award gives a clear message that size isn’t everything!” I trust you don’t need any more convincing of why you should be in it but just in case - there is the matter of an invitation to a very special venue ......

This year the Queen’s Awards Office has made great strides in developing our YouTube channel, alongside our LinkedIn and Twitter groups. As well as the range of short films of winners sharing their stories about what winning the Award means to them, we’ve also posted a clip for each category with tips from advisors and previous entrants on how to fill in the entry and nomination forms.

I hope you’ve found useful all the help and advice that my wonderful team have pulled together again this year. The FAQ, checklists and myth busting blog posts have been designed to cover the key issues that you’ve been contacting us about. In these final days of the awards, you may well get a call from a member of the team to help you with any last minute questions or problems with the online system. Having said that, don’t wait for our call, please pick up the phone and talk to us – 020 7215 6880.

Finally, a plea for feedback – you’ll see a link to a really quick survey in your email confirming your submission and unique QA reference number. I would be really grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete it. Next year, there will be a new online system in place and any comments on how we can improve the process would be really valuable to that work. A big thank you in advance for your cooperation.

I’ll sign off wishing each and every business and individual the best of luck for this year’s Queen’s Awards for Enterprise – our very special Golden Jubilee year!

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Only a week to go...

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