What are UK business awards?

Awards run for businesses trading in the UK. Some are national and cover every sector at once, and some are regional, so a business is recognised in the place its customers live. My Local Awards runs one programme per region, once a year.

Can small businesses enter?

Yes. Sole traders, independents and small teams make up most of who is on the ballot here, and there is no minimum size, turnover or number of staff.

How do I enter a business award?

Here, somebody puts a business forward and the business then chooses whether to accept. Anybody can nominate, including the business itself, and nominating takes about a minute on the nomination form.

How are winners chosen?

By public vote. Voting runs to a published date, every vote is confirmed by a code sent to a mobile, and votes that fail those checks are set aside before anything is counted.

Do business awards cost money?

Ours do not. It is free to nominate, free for a business to accept, free to vote and free to win. Other programmes charge in different ways, so it is worth asking any of them what an entry costs before you write one.

Do I have to pay if I win?

No. A winner who wants a trophy or promotional material can order one, and a winner who orders nothing has exactly the same award, the same page and the same citation.

Are My Local Awards decided by public vote?

Yes. There is no judging panel and no shortlist drawn up in a room somewhere. The people who use these businesses are the ones who decide.

Can I nominate my own business?

Yes. Anyone can put a business forward, including a business putting itself forward. What matters is that somebody had a reason, and that nobody pays to be there.

Which UK regions do you cover?

Every region we run is listed on this page with what is happening in it today. They are currently in the north of England and the Midlands, and we open a new region where a community asks for one.

UK business awards
for local businesses

My Local Awards runs free business awards across the UK, and the community decides them. Anybody can put a local business forward, the business chooses whether to take part, and then its customers vote. Every vote is confirmed by a code sent to a mobile, and every winner is published with the award, the region and the date it was announced.

Reviewed 4 September 2026 by the My Local Awards team.

Happening now

Where the awards are open today

One programme per region, once a year. Nominations open first, then voting runs to a published date, and the winners are announced a few weeks later. Here is where that has reached.

Find your region

2026Status:Nominations open
West Midlands
Nominations close 22 September 2026

The plain version

What are
business awards?

A business award is public recognition that a business is good at what it does. What separates one programme from another is who decides, and that is the question worth asking of any of them, including this one.

My Local Awards is a publicly voted, regional programme. The people who use a local business are the ones who decide it, and our job is to run the vote properly and publish exactly what it says.

Voted for, not applied for

The question worth asking is who decides

Judged awards: A panel reads written entries and picks a winner. The decision rests on what a business has written down about itself, and entries are usually prepared over several weeks.
Publicly voted awards: The people who use a business decide it. The programme is responsible for making sure the votes are real, which is where the work sits.
Industry awards: Run inside one trade or profession, often by its association, and judged by people who work in it. The audience is other businesses in the same field.
Local and regional awards: Held within one place, so a business competes with the ones its customers already know. This is where a small business is most likely to be recognised.

How ours work

From a local favourite to a winner

Three stages, and the community is at both ends of them. The full journey, from the first nomination to the morning a result is published, is set out on how it works.

The community
nominates
Anyone can put a local business forward, free, with a reason. A business is welcome to put itself forward. What nobody can do is pay to be there.
The business
says yes
We get in touch, and the business decides whether to take part. Accepting gives it a voting page of its own to share with its customers.
The community
votes
Voting runs to a published date. Every vote is confirmed by a code sent to a mobile, and the winners are announced with the award, the region and the date.

Read the whole journey, or start by putting a business forward.

Whose decision it is

How a winner
is selected

By public vote. Every award we run is decided by the people who voted in it, and there is no panel and no scoring sheet behind the result.

A vote counts once the voter confirms a code we text to their mobile. Duplicates, unconfirmed numbers, incomplete entries and unusual activity come out before anything is counted, so whoever is ahead the minute voting closes is not automatically the winner. The result is published with a written citation, and it stays on the site at its own address.

How voting is kept fair

What we never publish

No vote count, no running total and no ranking by score, while voting is open or after it closes. Nominees are listed alphabetically.

A visible score turns a ballot into a bandwagon, and a vote should be what you think rather than what everybody else thought first.

Regional business awards

Every region we run

The regions running today are in the north of England and the Midlands, and we open a new one where a community asks for it. Each has its own programme, its own dates and its own winners.

West Midlands business awards: Nominations open. Nominations close 22 September 2026.
East Midlands business awards: Winners announced. Announced 1 September 2026.
North East business awards: Winners announced. Announced 23 June 2026.
Cumbria business awards: Winners announced. Announced 28 April 2026.
Yorkshire business awards: Winners announced. Announced 6 March 2026.

Dates and deadlines

When each region opens and closes

Published dates for every region with a live programme. A blank is a window we have not set yet rather than one that has passed.

Nomination, voting and announcement dates for each region
Region	Status	Nominations close	Voting opens	Voting closes	Winners announced
West Midlands 2026	Nominations open	22 September 2026	22 September 2026	6 October 2026	20 October 2026
East Midlands 2026	Winners announced	—	4 August 2026	21 August 2026	1 September 2026
North East 2026	Winners announced	—	26 May 2026	9 June 2026	23 June 2026
Cumbria 2026	Winners announced	—	31 March 2026	14 April 2026	28 April 2026
Yorkshire 2026	Winners announced	—	27 January 2026	21 February 2026	6 March 2026

A region opens once a year. Tell us where you are and we will email you the day yours starts, on the contact page.

Award categories

What a business can win

The awards on offer, banded by sector. Each region runs the set its own community cares about, so not every award below runs everywhere at once, and Dental Practice of the Year sits on the same list as Sandwich Shop of the Year.

Automotive

Car Dealership of the Year
Garage of the Year

Care

Care Home of the Year
Disability Service Provider of the Year
Dog Groomer of the Year

Community & Charity

Animal Rescue Centre of the Year
Non-Profit of the Year
Volunteer Group of the Year

Creative & Culture

Event Venue of the Year
Gallery of the Year
Interior Design Business of the Year
Tattoo Studio of the Year
Theatre of the Year

Creative & Media

Branding Agency of the Year
Design Agency of the Year
Marketing Agency of the Year
Photographer of the Year
Photography Studio of the Year
Printing & Signage Business of the Year
Social Media Agency of the Year
Videography Studio of the Year

Digital & Tech

App Developer of the Year
Cybersecurity Business of the Year
IT Services Business of the Year
Web Design Business of the Year

Education

Driving School of the Year
Nursery of the Year
Primary School of the Year
Secondary School of the Year
Training Provider of the Year

Finance & Professional Services

Accountancy Firm of the Year
Business Consultancy of the Year
Financial Advisory Business of the Year
Insurance Broker of the Year

Fitness & Wellbeing

Equestrian Centre of the Year
Gym of the Year
Martial Arts Club of the Year
Wellness Business of the Year
Yoga Studio of the Year

Food & Drink

Bakery of the Year
Bar of the Year
Cafe of the Year
Coffee Shop of the Year
Dessert Shop of the Year
Pub of the Year
Restaurant of the Year
Sandwich Shop of the Year
Takeaway of the Year

Food & Drink Production

Brewery of the Year
Dairy Producer of the Year
Distillery of the Year

Health & Wellbeing

Aesthetics Clinic of the Year
Barbershop of the Year
Beauty Salon of the Year
Chiropractic Business of the Year
Dental Practice of the Year
Hair Salon of the Year
Optician of the Year
Physiotherapy Practice of the Year
Spa of the Year
Veterinary Practice of the Year

Manufacturing

Furniture Manufacturer of the Year
Manufacturing Business of the Year
Textile Manufacturer of the Year

Professional Services

Law Firm of the Year
PR Agency of the Year
Recruitment Agency of the Year
Security Company of the Year
Wedding Planner of the Year

Property

Estate Agency of the Year
Property Developer of the Year

Retail

Antiques Shop of the Year
Bookshop of the Year
Butcher of the Year
Electronics Store of the Year
Farm Shop of the Year
Fashion Retailer of the Year
Fishmonger of the Year
Florist of the Year
Food Retailer of the Year
Furniture Retailer of the Year
Games Shop of the Year
Garden Centre of the Year
Gift Shop of the Year
Homeware Store of the Year
Jeweller of the Year
Pet Shop of the Year

Trades

Carpentry & Joinery Business of the Year
Cleaning Company of the Year
Construction Business of the Year
Electrical Business of the Year
Landscaping Business of the Year
Painting & Decorating Business of the Year
Plumbing Business of the Year
Roofing Business of the Year
Scaffolding Business of the Year
Tiling & Flooring Business of the Year
Windows & Doors Business of the Year

Transport

Removals Company of the Year
Taxi Business of the Year

Transport & Travel

Bed & Breakfast of the Year
Coach Company of the Year
Hotel of the Year
Travel Agency of the Year

To see which of these are running near you, open your region and its awards are listed with the businesses on each ballot.

Most of who is on a ballot here is somebody small

Small business awards

Made for
small businesses

There is no entry to write, no fee and no minimum size. A business gets onto a ballot because somebody local put it there, which is why a one-person business stands in exactly the same place as a business with forty staff.

Sole traders and one-person businesses: A window cleaner, a dog groomer, a mobile hairdresser. Being small is not a separate category here, it is most of who is on the ballot.
Independents and small teams: Shops, cafés, salons, garages, practices. The businesses a community can name without being prompted.
Larger local employers: Nothing rules out a bigger business. It is voted for by the same people on the same terms, and a category exists for employers as well as for what they sell.
Where a business has to be: Trading in a region we currently run, in the town or city it serves. A business with several sites enters in the region each site trades in, which is why a nominee card names the town.

Previous winners

Businesses their customers backed

Results we have published, with the award, the region and the year. Each one has a page of its own that anybody can open.

All winners

Winner stories

Fees and transparency

What it costs, and who is behind it

Every line below can be checked somewhere other than this page, which is the only kind of fact worth publishing about ourselves.

Who runs the awards: Marketic Group Ltd, company number 17300328, registered at Bartle House, 9 Oxford Court, Manchester, England, M2 3WQ. All of it is on the public register at Companies House.
What it costs to take part: Nothing to nominate, nothing to accept a nomination, nothing to vote, and nothing to win. A winner who wants a trophy or promotional material can order one afterwards, and a winner who orders nothing has exactly the same award.
How a winner is decided: By public vote, with every vote confirmed by a code sent to a mobile. Nominees are listed alphabetically and no vote count is published, so nobody votes on the strength of what everybody else did.
What we publish about a result: The business, the award, the region and the date it was announced, on a page anybody can open. A written citation goes with it.
How to reach a person: team@mylocalawards.co.uk or 0330 043 4083. Dial it from this website rather than from a message you have been sent.

More about the company is on about us, and the rules we run to are in the terms and conditions.

Why businesses take part

What a win is actually worth

Said as businesses put it to us, rather than as a promise. What an award does is give a community a way to say something out loud, and give a business something to show for it.

Being told
by your customers

A nomination comes from somebody who chose to spend a minute on you. Winners tell us that is the part that landed, well before anything arrived in the post.

Something
to show

A page of your own, a written citation, and artwork you can use in a window, on a van or on your website. Local press pick up results too.

A reason
to talk to people

Asking your customers to back you is a conversation with everybody on your list, and it is a warmer one than an offer.

Questions

Business awards questions, answered

The questions people ask us most, set out in the open rather than folded away behind rows to click.

What are business awards?: Business awards are public recognition that a business is good at what it does. Some are decided by a panel of judges reading written entries, and some are decided by the people who use the business. The award itself is the recognition, along with whatever the programme publishes about it.
What are UK business awards?: Awards run for businesses trading in the UK. Some are national and cover every sector at once, and some are regional, so a business is recognised in the place its customers live. My Local Awards runs one programme per region, once a year.
Can small businesses enter?: Yes. Sole traders, independents and small teams make up most of who is on the ballot here, and there is no minimum size, turnover or number of staff.
How do I enter a business award?: Here, somebody puts a business forward and the business then chooses whether to accept. Anybody can nominate, including the business itself, and nominating takes about a minute on the nomination form.
How are winners chosen?: By public vote. Voting runs to a published date, every vote is confirmed by a code sent to a mobile, and votes that fail those checks are set aside before anything is counted.
Do business awards cost money?: Ours do not. It is free to nominate, free for a business to accept, free to vote and free to win. Other programmes charge in different ways, so it is worth asking any of them what an entry costs before you write one.
Do I have to pay if I win?: No. A winner who wants a trophy or promotional material can order one, and a winner who orders nothing has exactly the same award, the same page and the same citation.
Are My Local Awards decided by public vote?: Yes. There is no judging panel and no shortlist drawn up in a room somewhere. The people who use these businesses are the ones who decide.
Can I nominate my own business?: Yes. Anyone can put a business forward, including a business putting itself forward. What matters is that somebody had a reason, and that nobody pays to be there.
Which UK regions do you cover?: Every region we run is listed on this page with what is happening in it today. They are currently in the north of England and the Midlands, and we open a new region where a community asks for one.

Written by the My Local Awards team. Published 4 September 2026, last reviewed 4 September 2026. More answers are on help and FAQs.

Think of a business
worth backing

It is usually the place you would recommend without being asked. Putting them forward takes about a minute, it costs nothing, and it might be the best thing that happens to them this year.

Free to nominate, free to win

Nominate a business See what is open near you

UK business awards for local businesses

Where the awards are open today

West Midlands

What are business awards?