CATEGORIES
Entry fee is £55+VAT
Submission portal opens 29 January 2024
/// Founder of the Year
If you have started a business alone or with a co-founder, this award is to recognise you and the hard work you have put into starting your business. We know as a founder you can go through so much when starting out, so we want to celebrate one of the hardest working founders that has really achieved something despite the hurdles. (Only one co-founder per application)
Who is eligible for this award?
A person who has founded or co-founded a company at any time and demonstrated innovation, leadership and creativity.
If you have previously entered for this category you will need to demonstrate significant changes or improvements since your last entry.
Tell us why you should win this award
Outline why you’re entering this award and convince the judges that your entry should be considered.
Evidence of achievement
What has this founder achieved with their business? Please provide evidence of growth through statistics and numbers.
Business Benefits
Examples of business success or technological innovation should be stated clearly. How are you delivering real benefits to customers?
Testimonials
These should be obtained from clients, partners, and industry figures, rather than employees of your organisation.
Supporting material
Supporting material is highly recommended to help the judges make their decision and limited to up to 3 images and one video link per entry.
/// RISING STARTUP AWARD
Are you a young entrepreneur making waves straight out of university? Or still in education and juggling the life of a business starter? We know as a student ideas are hard to contain and we want to highlight those who are taking their work the extra mile.
Who is eligible for this award?
An individual who is in education or graduated from 2021-2023 and started a business.
Tell us why this entry should win this award
Outline why you’re entering this award and convince the judges that your entry should be considered.
Evidence of innovation
What makes your product or service different? What is genuinely new and innovative? What are your plans for the future?
Benefits
How does this product or innovation deliver real benefits to customers?
Testimonials
These should be obtained from clients, partners, and industry figures, rather than employees of your organisation.
Supporting material
Supporting material is highly recommended to help the judges make their decision and limited to up to 3 images and one video link per entry.
/// Top Performing Team
Most founders would say that behind every successful business is an even more successful team. We know choosing the right team for your business can be difficult, but once you get it right, there is almost no stopping you. We want to give credit where credit is due and celebrate the whole team within the startup.
Who is eligible for this award?
A group of people who work together in a startup who have performed well and delivered benefits to others between February 2021 and April 2022.
About the team
Please include some background details about the team – who they are and what they do.
Tell us why they should win this award
Outline why you’re entering this award and convince the judges that your entry should be considered.
Evidence
Show Evidence of what your team has achieved together within the business. Please provide evidence of growth through statistics and numbers.
Benefit given to the business or to others
Please describe the benefits the team gave to others; either within the business or to customers.
Testimonials
These should be obtained from clients, partners, and industry figures, rather than employees of your organisation.
Supporting material
Supporting material is highly recommended to help the judges make their decision and limited to up to 3 images and one video link per entry.
/// Inspirational Womxn of the Industry
At Startups Magazine we are all about championing and encouraging more female founders and entrepreneurs, as they do not always get the recognition they deserve. This award is to celebrate a particular womxn in the industry that has excelled and really shone through this year. You can be at any position within a business or a freelancer.
Who is eligible for this award?
A womxn working for or with startups who has inspired others.
*this category is open to anyone who identifies as female.
About the person
Please include some background details about who the nominee is and what they’ve done.
Tell us why they should win this award
Outline why you’re entering this award and convince the judges that your entry should be considered.
Evidence
Please provide evidence for the judges to see how you’ve achieved and done what you have. Please provide evidence of growth through statistics and numbers.
Inspiration given to the business or to others
Please describe the inspiration the person gave to others either within the business or to customers
Testimonials
These should be obtained from clients, partners, and industry figures, rather than employees of your organisation.
Supporting material
Supporting material is highly recommended to help the judges make their decision and limited to up to 3 images and one video link per entry.
/// Most Innovative Tech
As a tech-based publication we want to see some of the incredible technology products and solutions that have really developed and been on a journey over the past year or so and highlight some of the most innovative products currently breaking onto the tech scene. This category is for startups with a tech solution or hardware product.
Who is eligible for this award?
A business or inventor of a new product or technology between February 2021 and April 2023.
Tell us why this entry should win this award
Outline why you’re entering this award and convince the judges that your entry should be considered.
Evidence of innovation
What makes this product or technology different? What is genuinely new and innovative? Who are your competitors? How big if your team or are you an individual? Please provide evidence of growth through statistics and numbers.
Benefits
How does this product or innovation deliver real benefits to customers?
Testimonials
These should be obtained from clients, partners, and industry figures, rather than employees of your organisation.
Supporting material
Supporting material is highly recommended to help the judges make their decision and limited to up to 3 images and one video link per entry.
/// Social Impact Hero(es)
Having an impact on society, people or communities as a result of an action, an activity or a solution is what we want to see here. If your business, or an element of your business has had a positive social impact and helped in some way, then we want to praise and celebrate this.
Who is eligible for this award?
A business, individual or team who has made a genuine social impact on society, people or the community.
Tell us why this entry should win this award
Outline why you’re entering this award and convince the judges that your entry should be considered.
Entrant description
Please include some background details about the entrant – who they are and what they do.
Evidence of social impact
How has this entrant made a difference to equality, diversity, inclusion or to their local community or society in general? Evidence should be given through statistics and numbers.
Testimonials
These should be obtained from clients, partners, and industry figures, rather than employees of your organisation.
Supporting material
Supporting material is highly recommended to help the judges make their decision and limited to up to 3 images and one video link per entry.
/// Sustainability Award
Sustainability is slowly but surely becoming increasingly important to businesses, and eventually being green will be at the heart of most new businesses. Startups seem to be extremely forward-thinking regarding sustainability, but this category is for a startup and business idea that is dedicated to sustainability and having a positive impact on the environment. If your solution focuses on sustainability or helping others be more sustainable then we want to hear.
Who is eligible for this award?
An individual, team or business whose working practices or products make a demonstrable change to improve the environment.
This award will only be given for something that has made a genuine difference to the environment.
Tell us why this entry should win this award
Outline why you’re entering this award and convince the judges that your entry should be considered.
Evidence of environmental improvement
Please include evidence of environmental benefits that this company or product delivers. Ideally some real data should be used to substantiate any claims made. eg. statistics and charts.
Testimonials
These should be obtained from clients, partners, and industry figures, rather than employees of your organisation.
Supporting material
Supporting material is highly recommended to help the judges make their decision and limited to up to 3 images and one video link per entry.
/// Outstanding Startups Support
It is not just about the startups this year, we want to also champion the businesses and organisations who offer help to startups and entrepreneurs along their journey. We appreciate what you are doing is valuable and necessary to elevate businesses to the next level, so if you support or provide a service to a startup in any way, this award is for you.
Who is eligible for this award?
A company or individual who has helped support a startup by offering support to their business in some form – by supplying skills, finance, resources, facilities, advice or representation.
About the startup supporter
Please include some details of the entrant who they are and what they do.
Tell us why they should win this award
Outline why you’re entering this award and convince the judges that your entry should be considered.
Evidence of support
Please include evidence of how this person/business has supported startups. Size of team or individual? How long they’ve been doing it?
Benefit given to startups
Please describe the benefits and outcomes the entrant gave to startups.
Testimonials
These should be obtained from clients, partners, and industry figures, rather than employees of your organisation.
Supporting material
Supporting material is highly recommended to help the judges make their decision and limited to up to 3 images and one video link per entry.
/// Workspace of the Year
We understand that there are a number of essential items and services that startups need along their business journey, and a workspace is definitely at the top of that list. Spending a lot of time at workspaces and co-working offices, this is a home-away-from-home for many entrepreneurs. This award is to identify and congratulate the workspaces in the industry – without these a lot of businesses wouldn’t be where they are today.
Who is eligible for this award?
Any workspace or co-working space that offers more than just a desk.
Entrant description
Please include some background details about the entrant – who they are and what they provide.
Tell us why they should win this award
Outline why you’re entering this award and convince the judges that your entry should be considered.
Evidence
Please provide evidence of how your workspace is going out the way to help startups and entrepreneurs. The size and location of the workspace.
Benefits to startups
How this workspace has provided benefits to start-up companies.
Testimonials
These should be obtained from clients, partners, and industry figures, rather than employees of your organisation.
Supporting material
Supporting material is highly recommended to help the judges make their decision and limited to up to 3 images and one video link per entry.
/// Most Successful Scale-Up
There are several different stages to a business lifeline, and if you are past the startup phase but not quite at the corporate global business stage, you are most likely a scale-up. If you have a team of over ten and are seeing regular growth year after year, then this award is for you.
Who is eligible for this award?
A growing startup company with a team of over 10 in size. The February 2021 and April 2022 eligibility criteria do not apply to this award.
Entrant description
Please include some background details about the entrant – who they are and what they provide.
Tell us why they should win this award
Outline why you’re entering this award and convince the judges that your entry should be considered.
Evidence
Please provide evidence to show how you developed as a business so successfully. Evidence of growth should be given as statistics and numbers.
Describe the scale up and success
How has this entrant moved from being a small startup to a growing, developing business?
Testimonials
These should be obtained from clients, partners, and industry figures, rather than employees of your organisation.
Supporting material
Supporting material is highly recommended to help the judges make their decision and limited to up to 3 images and one video link per entry.
/// Early-Stage Innovation Award
Being in the early stage is one of the most difficult phases. Having an idea but not necessarily a proof-of-concept or a product to show off and validate the business is often very tricky, but we know it is important to power through! This year we want to shine a light on the early-stage businesses and give them an opportunity to win an award without competing against businesses that are a lot more advanced.
Who is eligible for this award?
A new startup company less than 2 years old.
Entrant description
Please include some background details about the entrant – who they are and what they provide.
Tell us why they should win this award
Outline why you’re entering this award and convince the judges that your entry should be considered.
Describe the innovation
How has this entrant created a new business by innovating or developing a new product or service? The size of the business/team and how love they’ve been running.
Testimonials
These should be obtained from clients, partners, and industry figures, rather than employees of your organisation.
Supporting material
Supporting material is highly recommended to help the judges make their decision and limited to up to 3 images and one video link per entry.
/// READERS choice award
The only one of our awards which isn’t judged by our unbiased team of judges. All the shortlisted entries will be entered into this automatically, and will be at the mercy of our readers, who will be encouraged to vote for their favourite. Readers will be supplied with the bio, website link and imagery to inform their decisions.
Who is eligible for this award?
Entries who have been shortlisted in the Hustle Awards 2023.
