Awards for Excellence FAQs

Business in the Community’s Awards for Excellence showcase the best of responsible business in action.

They are the UK’s most influential, independent, peer assessed corporate responsibility awards.

Now in their fifteenth year they are widely acknowledged as one of the most respected endorsements of responsible business.

In general, every category of the Awards for Excellence are open to all members of Business in the Community, and to any other private sector company. By this we mean companies that exist to make a profit for their shareholders through the provision of goods or services.

The awards are not open to social enterprises, voluntary sector organisations or public sector bodies, except those that are members of Business in the Community. 

Entries are welcome from businesses of any size, including individual business units of larger organisations.

There are certain exceptions to this general rule details of which can found in the specific conditions of entry included in the application packs for each category.

They recognise businesses that have shown innovation, creativity and sustained commitment to corporate responsibility.

The Awards for Excellence look behind the headlines for evidence of the impact of a programme. 

To enter the awards you need to complete a written application explaining how you are managing your programme/activity and what benefits it is having on your business and in society more widely.

Entry packs are downloaded and uploaded from the BITC website. The awards are launched in December at our AGM and closed for entries at the beginning of March.

Full details of the timeline for this year are available on  the Awards for Excellence Process webpage

Our categories cover our key impact areas: Environmental Sustainability, Marketplace Behaviour and Workplace & Employees, Education & Young People, Employment and Enterprise& Renewal.  

Within these areas we focus on vital campaign issues covering topics like: Education, Climate Change, Health at work, Environmental Leadership, Sustainable marketing, Supply Chain, Employability, Community Collaboration.  In addition we have a category that focuses on issues that are faced in rural communities and an award that looks at international issues.

Entries into these categories tend to focus on specific programmes that address particular problems. We do not guarantee which categories will be offered each year until they are formally launched at our AGM (in December) as the decisions around which categories are offered is partly dependent on sponsorship as well as on our campaign focus for the coming year.

Finally we have a couple of awards that look at a company’s overall approach to CR and the impact they are having, as well as looking for evidence of leadership in responsible business practices – these are our Responsible Small Company award and our Responsible Business if the Year Award.

Yes we have two awards that look at a company’s overall approach to CR and the impact they are having, as well as looking for evidence of leadership in responsible business practices – these are our Small Company of the Year award and our Responsible Business of the Year Award.

The formal launch of our 2012 Categories will be on 1st December. However, if you want to find out more about what categories we will be running please contact the Awards Team on 020 7566 8668 or by email on awards@bitc.org.uk

The Awards for Excellence recognise responsible business in three different ways which culminate in our highest accolade, our overall category Winner. Below we have provided details of how we recognise business at different levels of achievement.

The Big Tick is the first accolade that can be achieved by entrants.  In each category entrants that reach the specific standard which is set by our assessors achieve a Big Tick. 

The Big Tick is public acknowledgement of a company’s programme of work that indicates that the entry demonstrated significant evidence of responsible business on wider society and that it has reached the national standard set by assessors. 

Each year  35-40% of entries achieve the Big Tick standard.

Following achievement of a Big Tick the best entries are put forward for consideration for the overall Winner for their category. The shortlisted entries are invited to make a presentation to a panel of judges, which takes place in May.

This is the highest accolade in the Awards.  Following a presentation to the panel of judges a winner is chosen to represent the overall category Winner for that year.  In addition, the judges also have the power to award a Highly Commended if they think an entry is worthy of this title.

The Awards for Excellence are a National award - therefore they are open to all companies across the UK (and for the some awards they are open globally).

Each year the assessment process looks at the standard of entries that year, and aims to set a benchmark for success that continues to keep standards high and challenges our award entrants to strive to be better.

In each category all the companies whose entries are determined to be above the benchmark set by the assessors are awarded a Big Tick – this acknowledges that the company has provided significant evidence of positive impact in the area the category focuses on.

In each category the top Big Ticks are sent forward to be assessed for judging to become the overall category Winner. In categories with a small number of entries and a small number of Big Ticks, this may mean that every Big Tick entry goes forward for judging. In categories with lots of entries, only the top few go forward.

On average between 4-6 entries are sent through to the judging phase.

All our assessors are trained and supported by Business in the Community category experts. They are then tasked with reading and scoring the entries in the category they are assessing before deciding which entries can evidence their impact and deserve a Big Tick.

To find out more visit our Assessors webpage

In each of our award categories the very best of the Big Ticks in each category are selected to go forward to judging to determine the overall category Winner.

To get to the shortlist for judging the entry has already been through the rigorous assessment process and has been looked at in detail by CR practitioners to ensure there is detailed evidence of positive impact.

The judges take over at this point and hear directly from the companies on the shortlist in a face to face presentation.

The judges in our Awards for Excellence are senior representatives of companies. They are viewed as the leaders in their field of knowledge. In 2009 around 25% of our judges were Chief Executives, Chairs, Managing Directors and VP’s, with the remainder tending to be at Director Level.

The Big Tick awards are presented at a series of events around the UK during June. The results of the assessment stage are given privately to companies in April.  

If you have been successful you will be contacted by the regional office of Business in the Community in the area that you nominated at the entry stage inviting you to the relevant regional event where you will receive your Big Tick trophy.

On average there are around 350 entries to the awards each year. These entries are spread across on average 14 categories.

On average 35-40% of entries receive a Big Tick.

The Awards for Excellence are a national awards programme which means they are open to any company in the UK to enter, and that those awarded with a Big Tick have reached a national standard of excellence. The Awards for Excellence are managed by BITC’s head office in London.

The regional awards are run by each of BITC’s regional office, so for example the South West Carbon Positive Awards are only open to companies operating in the South West. As a result the winners of the regional awards have only been competing against other business in that region, rather than competing nationally.

Business in the Community’s awards are the UK’s most influential, independent, peer assessed corporate responsibility awards. Run in association with the Financial Times, the awards recognise and celebrate those companies who have shown innovation, creativity and a sustained commitment to corporate responsibility.

At a time when many companies are cutting back, it is vital that we celebrate those companies which recognise that their corporate responsibility activities are just as important now, as ever. Others can also learn from those who have gone before, and we hope be inspired to begin making steps towards their own corporate responsibility initiatives. 

There is currently no fee for submitting an entry to the Awards for Excellence.

Don't forget if you have any further queries or need any support, you can email the Awards Team or telephone 020 7566 8668.

Details of the process can be found here

or need any support, you can email the Awards Team or telephone 020 7566 8668.