Queen's Award for enterprise

Eligibility

To apply for the award your organisation must:

be based in the UK (including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man)
file its Company Tax Returns with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
be a self-contained enterprise that markets its own products or services and is under its own management
have at least 2 full-time UK employees or part-time equivalents
demonstrate strong corporate social responsibility

Your organisation can be a business or non-profit. Each of the award categories has additional entry criteria.

To apply for the Innovation award, you must also:

have an innovation that has not been sold before
have had your innovation available on the market for at least 2 years
have recovered all the investments made in your innovation or show that the innovation will recover its full costs in future
show outstanding commercial success as a result of innovation over 2 years - or continuous commercial success over 5 years

Your innovation should be in one of the following categories:

To apply for the International Trade award, you must also:

have made a minimum of £100,000 in overseas sales in the first year of your entry and show year-on-year growth
prove that your organisation has achieved outstanding growth in overseas earnings relative to your business size and sector
prove steep year-on-year growth (without dips) in overseas sales over 3 years - or substantial year-on-year growth (without dips) over 6 years

To apply for the Sustainable Development award, you must also:

show how you have achieved outstanding sustainable development for more than 2 years
provide evidence of the benefits or positive outcomes of your actions or interventions

To apply for the Promoting Opportunity award, you must also:

have had a social mobility programme running for more than 2 years
provide evidence of the programme’s benefits (for example, to your organisation and employees)

Your improvements should help socially disadvantaged individuals or groups and be in one of the following areas:

work experience, careers advice or mentoring for young people
offering non-graduate routes such as traineeships or changing recruitment practices
giving equal support and progression opportunities to all employees

A company does not have to be nominated, it can apply itself. For more information on the award and how to apply please use the website link below:

Recent winners of the QAE from County Antrim:

2021 International Trade: