The Swansea Bay Business Awards are currently open for nominations, as we search for the businesses and entrepreneurs that have made the biggest splash over the last year. The awards will be held on Thursday September 15 at Brangwyn Hall. Nominations close August 12 - to enter, or for more information on the awards, visit the official website.
Each year the awards make it possible for us to shine a light on the impressive work being done by Swansea’s business community. As such, we want to hear from businesses and individuals who feel that their work is worthy of recognition. Entering is easy - just visit the official website and submit a nomination.
What makes a good nomination though? Ahead of the awards, we’ve put together a list of tips to help you craft a successful entry - so if you feel that your business deserves to be recognised at this year’s awards, keep reading.
1) Don't leave it to the last minute
Give yourself plenty of time to submit your entry, to ensure that it’s as well put together as possible. Leaving things to the last minute is an easy way to produce a rushed, slapdash entry.
2) Consider the categories carefully
Make sure you read each entry carefully - to find the one that best represents your work and the things you’ve achieved. You can enter more than one category - but make sure that each entry is specific, and suited to the criteria.
3) Follow the criteria
Don’t just pack everything you can think of into the entry form in the hopes that it’ll be more impressive. Take the time to properly consider and respond to the criteria, to have the best chance of providing what the judges are looking for.
4) Provide examples
Don’t skimp on the details. Your entry needs to be specific, and it also needs to be detailed - with concrete examples of how you meet the category criteria. If you make a claim, you need to be able to back it up.
5. If social media is part of your application - get posting
If you’re going to claim that you’ve created a thriving social media brand, you need to show it. Judges are going to want to see a vibrant timeline with interactions and a proper use of the platform - not a social desert with one post a month.
6. Prove that you’ve made customers happy
If you say that your customers have been thrilled with your work, it can’t hurt to provide proof. Include some testimonials from customers and clients who are happy to sing your praises.
7. Put yourself in the shoes of the judges
Try to ensure that your entry is clear and engaging. The judges go through a lot of nominations, so making yours easy to read is going to make it much more likely to stick in their minds. Break up text into clear chunks, and avoid too much waffle.
8. Do your research
Looking up previous winners and finalists can be useful, helping you find out what made them stand out, and put them a cut above the other entries.
9. Ask a colleague to look over your application
It can never hurt to get another pair of eyes to look over your entry. Working on something so intently can make it easy to miss errors or omissions - so consider asking a colleague to read through your application, and make sure there isn’t anything you’ve left out.
10) Triple check before you submit
This almost goes without saying, but thoroughly check your entry before you finally submit it. Comb through it for spelling and grammar errors, and to make sure that you’ve properly hit the category criteria.
Follow these criteria, and you should be able to craft a stellar entry that stands out to the judges. Nominations close on August 12 - and if you think that you or your business is worthy of recognition, we want to hear about it. To enter, or for more information, visit the official website.
The full list of categories is as follows:
- Diversity & Inclusion Award
- Entrepreneur of the Year
- Young Business Person of the Year, sponsored by Gower College Swansea
- Female Tech Talent, sponsored by Vortex IOT
- Tech Business of the Year, sponsored by Morgan La Roche
- Family Business of the Year
- Start Up Business of the Year
- Small Business of the Year
- Medium to Large Business of the Year
- Woman in Construction, sponsored by Pennant Homes
- Lifetime Contribution Award
- Exporter of the Year
- Business of the Year Award (from the other winners)
- Additional event sponsors are Bernie Davies Global and Focus Carmarthen Enterprise Hub
