Prince Charles chatting to Yorkshire entrepreneur Richard Bailey (left), managing director of Huddersfield-based Environmental Defence Systems Ltd, and sales director Richard Nikolic at a Royal reception for Queen’s Award winners

Top tips for Yorkshire businesses applying for the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2022

By Yorkshire copywriter Andy Hirst from Huddersfield PR company AH! PR

The Queen’s Award for Enterprise is the highest accolade any business award can and the time to apply for it is now.

The deadline to apply for a Queen's Award in 2022 is on September 6 so businesses will need to start the application process or bring in a specialist to help them as the process takes several weeks.

Many companies will be wondering how do we win a Queen's Award, how long does it take to fill the forms in, what do we need to do to successfully apply for a Queen’s Award for Enterprise and does it cost anything to enter?

Well, it’s absolutely free to enter but as this is the top business award you can get it does take a great deal of time and effort. You’ll find my top tips on how to enter the awards below.

If successful, you can use the eye-catching Queen’s Award logo on all your marketing which really is a hallmark of excellence … and you receive a huge certificate signed by Her Majesty The Queen. All the winners are also invited to a Royal reception, often hosted by Prince Charles.

Judging is rigorous and any business which wins a Queen’s Award has met a very high standard. Only around 200 businesses achieve the award every year.

The awards are split into 4 categories – innovation, international trade, sustainable development and promoting opportunity through social mobility.

Be warned that the forms will take hours – normally around 50 – and will include between 5,000 and 7,000 words plus detailed financial information.

Obviously you can do the forms yourself but I’ve helped a couple of businesses by doing their applications which has led to them winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise. Alternatively, I can read through your finished entry so it has been seen by independent eyes before you submit it. 

This year I helped Bradford-based Astonish (https://astonish.co.uk/), whose parent company is called the London Oil Refining Company Ltd, to fill in the application forms and they were awarded the Queen’s Award for International Trade after achieving a huge increase in sales over the last 3 years, up from just over £21m in 2019 to almost £34m last year with exports increasing by more than a third.

The company manufactures more than 60 products ranging from household cleaners such as sprays, creams and pastes through to personal care items such as anti-bacterial handwash, luxury handwash, shower gel and bath foams.

It sells its products in the UK’s biggest high street names including Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Asda, Tesco, Home Bargains, Savers, B&M, The Range, Poundland, Co-Op, Wilko, B&Q, Farmfoods, Nisa, T K Maxx, Spar, Poundstretcher, John Lewis, Dunelm, Iceland, Lakeland, Booths, Ocado and Waitrose.

I also did the entire Queen's Awards application process for Environmental Defence Systems Ltd (http://avsax.com/) based in Huddersfield. This business then achieved the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation for its pioneering AvSax fire containment bag for the aviation industry, a unique invention that’s used to deal with lithium-ion battery fires in personal electronic devices such as mobile phones and laptops that are brought on board planes by passengers. More than 15,300 are now on board aircraft worldwide operated by more than 80 airline companies.

Another successful Queen's Award application was for a mobile decontamination unit designed to be used by ambulance services worldwide.

AH! PR also secured phenomenal news coverage for Greater Manchester engineering company Chelburn Precision Ltd which won the Queen’s Award in 2021. Read more about that here https://ah-pr.com/work/great-media-coverage-for-award-winning-ah-pr-client

For advice and help applying for a Queen’s Award for Enterprise please contact Andy Hirst by email at andy@ah-pr.com or call 07985 654822.

Businesses have until September 6, 2022 to apply but must start the application process within the next few weeks, ideally by the end of July.

Andy Hirst from AH! PR’s top tips for entering the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise

* You don’t need to be a big business to enter. Most of the winners are small or medium-sized businesses with many having less than 30 employees.

* Prepare in advance and leave plenty of time to think about your entry, write it, proof it, perhaps rethink it and then, if necessary, rewrite parts.

* Spell-check everything and make sure your grammar is 100% to avoid silly mistakes which may undermine a very strong entry. That’s why you need to start now. This can’t be a rushed job near deadline day.

* Make every word count on your Queen’s Award application form. This is no place for gobbledegook and bluff as the judges will see straight through it.

* Your sales figures to back up your claims have to be absolutely spot on. Preciseness is everything so make sure you have the evidence to support all you say.

* It’s a team effort as different experts in your firm such as the finance director or your accountants need to provide and explain financial figures which you will need for the last 3 years. You’ll then need someone with strong writing skills to provide all the words … and there sure are a lot of them. Someone needs to be appointed to be in charge of the project with a firm eye on the deadline and all the information that’s needed to make sure it doesn’t drift.

* You can upload photos, videos and other documents to support your application … but make sure they enhance it. A photo really can say more than words and will bring your application to life. Make sure they are a high resolution or have been taken by a professional photographer. I have contacts for good photographers across Yorkshire.

* Don’t be too downhearted if you don’t get the Queen’s Award first time. You can always try the next year and by then you’ll know why you fell short after getting feedback from the Queen’s Award office.

And, finally, here’s where to apply

https://www.gov.uk/queens-awards-for-enterprise

Good luck!