Hey Wakefield – has your business done something amazing?

The Wakefield District business community is a diverse as it is dynamic, and we think that’s something to be celebrated.

From little acorns, mighty oaks grow. Whether you’re one person working from your dining room table or employ thousands, Wakefield’s businesses have plenty to shout about. So here’s your chance.

Created by We Are Wakefield, the Wakefield Business Awards will celebrate all that’s great about our district’s businesses.  You can read the Rules of Entry HERE.

There’s a range of categories, taking account of all shapes and sizes of businesses. So if you’ve had a cracking year, overcome a major hurdle, or landed a contract with one of the country’s biggest names, now you can get even more credit for it.

We don’t care whether you have staff, an eight-figure turnover, or a client list longer than the M1, we’ve levelled the playing field so you can enter your business confident that there’s a category where you’ll compete against similar businesses.

We Are Wakefield knows the power of micro, small and medium businesses. They are the majority of the UK’s companies and make a huge contribution to our economy and communities. The Wakefield Business Awards have been created so you can tell everyone how amazing your business is.

We’re all about helping businesses become more sustainable through making quality local connections – and the Wakefield Business Awards will have sustainability at their heart. We’ll not be using single use plastic, will use minimal resources to pull off the event, and the dress code will encourage people to wear something they already own or buy second-hand.

Thank you to our headline sponsors, Wakefield First, along with supporting sponsors Juice Personnel Limited and Solupak Limited

Get your entries in by  28th July and get 9 November in your diary. We’re planning a night to remember at Tileyard North starting with a drinks reception sponsored by (TBC), an instant photograph for each attendee sponsored by Quest Waste Management  followed by a stunning 3 course meal. Our host for the evening is the wonderful, Christine Talbot.

The event will be broadcast live on Rhubarb Radio.  The Rhubarb team will be chatting to guests, finalists, judges and winners and getting the atmosphere of the event out to their listeners across the Wakefield District and beyond!

Will we see you there?

 

The entry process

Entries closed on 28th July 2023 and we’ll announce the shortlist week commencing 11th September.

If you are shortlisted as a finalist you will need to be available to attend our filming days on 20th to 22nd September at Production Haus, Castleford.  You will be allocated a time slot as soon as possible when the finalists are announced.

Award Sponsorship

Please see the AWARDS CATEGORIES  page for the businesses that have kindly sponsored awards in 2023.

Welcome Drinks Reception

You will be greeted by a selection of welcome drinks on arrival. The welcome drinks reception has been kindly joint sponsored by:

     

Table Centre Sponsorship

We will be making our event more sustainable, once again, by having beautifully lit, living tress as table centres.  The trees have been kindly sponsored by Newport Land and Law and The Nostell Estate.

Fair and transparent judging

We want you to trust you’re entering a fair process, so we’ve selected a panel of people with Wakefield connections to be our judges. You can see who’s on the judging panel HERE.

All judges have signed confidentiality and conflict of interest declarations. They are drawn from a broad network of businesses along with previous winners and finalists, so it’s possible that a judge’s business may enter the awards. We would never ask a judge to assess an entry from their own business or any entries from that particular category due to the clear conflict of interest this creates.

Each category will be assessed by at least three judges, and entries are scored independently, not at a judging day, with the winner the entry with the highest score. It’s that simple.

We held a  “Successful Awards Entry Writing” Webinar on 22nd June to give you some helpful tips on writing that winning entry.  If you couldn’t make it, we recorded the session which you can view here:

Access Teams Recording HERE

What entering the awards gets you

Let’s face it, we all want a bit of glory. But it’s not just about getting up on stage to collect a trophy. If you’re named a finalist, you can expect:

  • Promotion on social media
  • A summary of your achievements and branding in the awards brochure
  • Amazing networking opportunities at the awards ceremony
  • Mentions in We Are Wakefield’s member newsletter
  • Feedback on your entry after the awards ceremony, including what impressed the judges and what could have been improved

Attending the event

Tickets will go on sale on 15th September 2023 and will cost £65 + VAT per person.  Tickets will initially be offered to WAW Ambassadors, finalists and sponsors before going on general sale.

After Show Party

New for 2023 – You can continue celebrating into the wee small hours at the Awards After Show Party which will be held at The Distillery Bar adjacent to the venue!

The After Show Party will run after the main event 11pm-2am.

After Show Party tickets will be charged at £10 + VAT – this will be exchanged for a drink token on entry.  If you are attending the event you will have been sent a private link to buy your After Show Party tickets.

 

All prices quoted are exclusive of VAT @ 20%.