One way to get recognised is to win awards.
Winning awards gives you
- Press coverage that you often don’t need to organise
- A difference between you and your competitors
- Reassurance to your clients that they’ve made the right decisions
- Credibility in your sector and wider area
The hard work is identifying and applying for the awards. Some awards we’ve identified are
Ireland
SFA National Small Business Awards and the categories include
- Manufacturing
- Food and Drink
- Services
- Small Business
- Best in HR Development
- Innovator of the Year
The next entries are likely to be later this year for 2008 see http://www.sfa.ie/ for more information.
Business & Finance Awards
6th of December at The O’Reilly Hall in UCD www.businessandfinance.ie/awards
Company of the Year award http://www.businessandfinance.ie/awards/index.html
Golden Spiders Awards http://www.goldenspiders.ie/
22nd of November 2007 at The Burlington Hotel The Golden Spiders Awards are the longest standing and most prestigious Internet Awards in Ireland. They have become the benchmark of excellence within the industry and are widely recognised both within the industry and by the top 1000 Irish business leaders.
US-Ireland Business Awards http://www.businessandfinance.ie/events/US-Ire-Award.html
UK
The Startups Awards have lots of categories for new businesses in the UK to enter
- Product of the Year
- Online Business of the Year
- Micro Business of the Year
- Service Business of the Year
- Retailer of the Year
- Best Use of Technology
- Business Plan of the Year
- Young Entrepreneur of the Year
- Innovative Business of the Year
- Women in Business Award
- Community Impact Award
- Silver Fox Award (Over 50)
- Franchisee of the Year
- Team of the Year
- Entrepreneur Who’s Succeeded in the Face of Adversity
- Green Business of the Year
Your company must meet these criteria to enter:
- Be less than 3 years old at the time of entry
- Employ no more than 60 people
- Business should be privately owned
See http://www.startupsawards.co.uk/award_categories.htm for more details