Welcome to our NW SME Growth & Innovation Awards 2022, hosted by Edge Hill University’s Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) Productivity & Innovation Centre. The Centre is an internationally recognised and an award-winning Centre of Excellence for supporting growth and scale-up potential SMEs.
These exclusive Awards are to bestow onto your business the recognition of your achievements and raise your business profile across the region and beyond.
How to Enter
The NW SME Growth & Innovation Awards 2022 recognises achievements in the following five categories:
Award Categories
Business Strategy
Awarded to an SME who has achieved growth through the implementation of a highly effective business strategy.
Summarise the objectives within the strategy and describe any key factors or business model innovations (products, services, or business processes) within the strategy which have influenced and driven the growth?
Describe the impact on the business, quantified in terms of growth in any of the following: revenue, profitability, productivity, efficiency, staff headcount and/or customer base size?
Describe the challenges the business has facedand overcome to achieve this growth?
Product or Service Innovation
Awarded for the successful launch of a new product or service into the marketplace, or how an existing product or service has been transformed to achieve new growth or impact.
Describe the technology adopted and what challenge or opportunity the technology has addressed within the business?
Describe the impact on the business, quantified in terms of growth in any of the following: revenue, profitability, productivity, efficiency and/or customer base size?
Describe the challenges the business has faced and overcome during implementation or embedding of the technology?
Skills for Growth
Awarded for an outstanding example of where a business has utilised higher-level skills from a student or graduate to harness an identified growth need or opportunity.
Describe the skill set(s) the business has utilised (or the project those skills have been used for) and what challenge or opportunity utilising those skills has addressed within the business?
Describe the impact this has had on the business. Where possible, please estimate any quantified impacts in terms of growth in any of the following: revenue, profitability, productivity, efficiency and/or customer base size?
Describe the challenges the business has faced and overcome in either accessing, utilising or embedding those skills sets within the business?
Investment in Leadership and Management Capabilities
Awarded for commitment to improving the management and leadership capabilities of individuals or teams to drive growth or productivity.
Describe how the business has enhanced its leadership and management capabilities and any specific business challenges or opportunities this has enabled the business to address?
Describe the impact this has had on the business. Where possible, please estimate any quantified impacts in terms of growth in any of the following: revenue, profitability, productivity, efficiency and/or customer base size?
Describe the challenges the business has faced and overcome in enhancing or embedding these new capabilities?
You may enter one or multiple Awards. Each category will require a separate entry form to be completed. You cannot return to the form once information has been entered. We suggest creating your response to each section in Word and copying and pasting into the form when you are ready to submit.
Key Information
Award Entry Guidance
Each award category asks three questions and applies to the last twelve months:
What have you achieved?
What has been the impact?
What challenges did you face?
We encourage you where possible to use quantifiable evidence of any impact you have achieved – facts and figures. The word count in each question is for guidance, however any answer that exceeds the word count by more than 30% may not be read in full.
Any information provided that is found to be inaccurate, or misleading will result in that entry being discounted.
SMEs who make the shortlist will be invited to book seats and tables at the event.
Judging
Each entry will be scored independently by three assessors from Edge Hill University’s Business School and Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Entries will be assessed by looking at what has been achieved in the specific context of each business. Entrants will not be scored against each other, meaning businesses of different sizes and profiles can be fairly judged in the same category.
Only the information provided on this form will be used to assess each entry, however the University retains the right to request additional evidence if required to substantiate any growth figures stated. You may include links to external websites, new stories or other supplementary evidence and the assessors will make reasonable efforts to read and include this in their assessment.
The judges will also independently choose from the shortlists an Outstanding SME of the Year. This will be awarded to an SME who has shown an outstanding level of commitment to embrace their innovation, changing culture and practice to progress themselves, their organisation, their staff, and their community.
Key Dates
Entry to the 2022 SME Growth & Innovation awards is now closed.
Award entries open:
Tuesday 23 August 2022
Entry deadline date:
Monday 3 October 2022
Shortlists informed:
Monday 10 October 2022
The Awards Dinner: Thursday 10 November 2022
The winners of each category will be revealed at a prestigious celebration finale at the stunning Bliss Hotel in Southport. The newly refurbished hotel boasts a waterfront location that overlooks the marine lake and the Irish sea.
Shortlisted SMEs will celebrate in style with colleagues and friends at our dress to impress finale and enjoy a top class three course dinner. More details will be sent once the shortlisted SMEs have been informed.
2019 Award Winners
We are delighted to be able to host this event again, post pandemic. Our last celebration took place in 2019. It was a great evening celebrating the deserving winners.
Outstanding SME Award Winner 2019
Winner: Home Instead West Lancashire and Chorley
Winner: Home Instead West Lancashire and Chorley
To now be recognised as an Outstanding SME by Edge Hill University, the SME Productivity & Innovation Centre, academia and the wider business community is simply amazing. The entire Awards evening was wonderful, we enjoyed celebrating the winners and being surrounded by so many successful Lancashire-based entrepreneurs and business. To us, any one of them could have been chosen as worthy Outstanding SME Award winners.
