Award Categories 2026
Explore our 20 diverse award categories for 2026.
Designed to celebrate every aspect of business success. Whatever your size, sector, or story, there’s a category for you.
Entries open for the C2S Business Awards 2026
Why Enter the C2S Business Awards?
With 20 categories covering the most important areas of business, there’s a place for every organisation to shine. Discover what the judges are looking for, choose the categories that best showcase your strengths, and remember—you can enter more than one, completely free of charge.
Every entrant benefits from valuable PR and social media exposure, with the option to share your story in our weekly newsletter and across our platforms—reaching thousands of businesses and professionals across the South West.
Entries are open to both C2S Members and Non-Members, and sponsors are welcome to enter any categories they are not sponsoring.
Explore the 20 categories below and find your perfect fit.
Best Place to Work Award
Employee engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all members of an organisation to give of their best each day, committed to their organisation’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organisational success, with an enhanced sense of their own well-being.
Category Sponsor
Micro Business of the Year Award
This Award is for businesses with under 1-10 employees.
If you stand out across the board this category could be the one for you. Outstanding products coupled with great people, innovative marketing and customer service to be proud of are the kind of strengths we are looking for. Impressive financials to prove that your business plan is working are also key, as is an awareness of your CSR commitments. One for the real all-rounder.
Category Sponsor
Small Business of the Year Award
This Award is for businesses with 11-50 employees.
If you stand out across the board this category could be the one for you. Outstanding products coupled with great people, innovative marketing and customer service to be proud of are the kind of strengths we are looking for. Impressive financials to prove that your business plan is working are also key, as is an awareness of your CSR commitments. One for the real all-rounder.
Category Sponsor
Medium Business of the Year Award
This Award is for Business with between 51 and 200 employees
If you stand out across the board this category could be the one for you. Outstanding products coupled with great people, innovative marketing and customer service to be proud of are the kind of strengths we are looking for. Impressive financials to prove that your business plan is working are also key, as is an awareness of your CSR commitments. One for the real all-rounder.
Category Sponsor
Large Business of the Year Award
This Award is for businesses with over 201 employees
If you stand out across the board this category could be the one for you. Outstanding products coupled with great people, innovative marketing and customer service to be proud of are the kind of strengths we are looking for. Impressive financials to prove that your business plan is working are also key, as is an awareness of your CSR commitments. One for the real all-rounder.
Category Sponsor
Change Management and Innovation Award
This award recognises organisations that have successfully implemented initiatives which demonstrate excellence in change management, introduced new products or services, or innovated in their place if work.
Category Sponsor
Community Award
This award will recognise the business who has demonstrated responsible business practices across the four areas of local community, environment, their people, and supply chain.
Category Sponsor
Corporate Social Responsibility Award
This award will recognise the business who has demonstrated responsible business practices across the pillars of CSR.
Category Sponsor
Culture and Diversity Award
This award celebrates organisations that have developed cultures where diversity and inclusion are at the heart of their business and values, embracing the benefits of a truly diverse workforce.
Category Sponsor
Customer Excellence Award
This award is open to outstanding customer champions – businesses that operate customer-centric organisations where the customer is truly king or queen. It is open to businesses operating in any sector.
Category Sponsor
Cyber & IT Business of the Year Award
A record £24 billion was invested in UK tech businesses in 2022 and the UK was the first country in Europe to reach 100 tech unicorns, according to Tech Nation.
This award celebrates and acknowledges excellence in this sector, organisations, products, or services that are an exemplar and show commitment to achieving excellence.
Category Sponsor
Early Careers and Apprenticeship Award
This award recognises organisations that have successfully implemented initiatives which demonstrate excellence in early career development, and apprenticeship outreach.
Category Sponsor
Family Business of the Year Award
This award celebrates over 5 million family businesses in the UK which generate almost a third of the GDP – family businesses truly are the backbone of the UK economy!
The Family Business Award looks to highlight those that have worked hard, provided a quality service, and innovated their way through recent hardships – we want to recognise and reward those family businesses that are vital to the economy.
Category Sponsor
Growth Award
This award will acknowledge organisations that can demonstrate substantial growth in 2024 through revenue growth; headcount and/or service/product development. Successful growing businesses are extraordinarily important to the UK economy, driving innovation, creating wealth and thousands of new jobs.
Category Sponsor
Leadership Award
True leadership is a representation of the way you work with your team to achieve goals. A true leader makes an effort to help develop their team’s skills so they can reach their full potential. It is a critical part of any organisational success but does not just reside with the person at the top of the organisation. People can show leadership skills throughout an organisation.
Joint Category Sponsor
Manufacturing Business of the Year Award
Manufacturing makes up a not insignificant 10% of the economy’s output, and employs 2.6 million people across the UK, with many more in other industries supply chains. The sector is also responsible for a huge 44% of all UK exports. The total value of UK manufacturers’ product sales was £429.8 billion in 2022, an increase of £28.4 billion (7%) from £401.5 billion in 2021.
This award celebrates this critical sector and is open to manufacturers of all sizes in the South West, South Wales, Worcestershire and the Midlands operating in any sector and in any part of the supply chain.
Category Sponsor
Property & Construction Business of the Year Award
If you stand out in the Property & Construction industry, this category could be the one for you. Outstanding products coupled with great people, innovative marketing and customer service to be proud of are the kind of strengths we are looking for. Impressive financials to prove that your business plan is working are also key, as is an awareness of your CSR commitments.
Category Sponsor
Sustainability Award
This sustainability award recognises successful businesses where profitability, concern for the environment and social commitment are in harmony. This award celebrates companies who are driving positive change for the people and the planet.
Category Sponsor
Talent, Training and Development Award
Is there a more noble cause than training the workforce of today to cope with the challenges of tomorrow? This award is to recognise and reward those organisations that invest in their people, upskill their people, value continued learning and development, staff retention and talent progression.
Category Sponsor
Team of the Year Award
When it comes to business, teamwork is the cornerstone on which a business is built, and this award recognises and champions that.
The Team of the Year Award will recognise a team where each and every member of the team plays a fundamental role in delivering success.
The winning team will be a diverse and supportive group of people working together with a shared belief and value system that delivers business objectives.
Category Sponsor
Drinks Sponsor
Connecting talent with opportunity
Walk into any Juice office and you will soon see, feel and hear what makes us different.
From our open, collaborative, warm and above and beyond approach, to our passion, enthusiasm and love for what we do, the Juice team is focused on ensuring we bring together the most ambitious talent with super exciting and innovative opportunities.
We believe that great people accelerate growth and make vital time for businesses to create new plans and exciting objectives. By recruiting, inspirational, driven, knowledge fuelled teams, businesses can be focussed not only the day to day, but they can also be inspired to drive, growth, change and innovate through their people.
Established in 1998, we have partnered with and represented some of the world’s most driven brands and businesses. This is due to our ambitious, creative approach, which enables us to understand your business in meticulous detail, ensuring that we tailor our recruitment solutions to support your business needs.
Whether you are looking to recruit permanently, require temporary support or you are thinking of a senior appointment, our specialist teams will guide and advise you every step of the way.
Effective and creative thinkers, each of our talent teams have gained industry knowledge and expertise, spending time to understand what great talent and opportunities look like in sales, marketing, PR, creative, customer service, office support, accountancy, human resources and financial services.
With our network of branches across Bath, Bristol, Cheltenham, Swindon and Cardiff, we are able to connect permanent, contract and temporary talent, with the UK’s most ambitious and exciting businesses and brands.
We are proud to have cultivated long-standing relationships that support our partners growth strategies. Working collaboratively, we do hope we can help you build truly exceptional teams!
Media Sponsor
Event Programme Sponsor
Venue Sponsor
Ready to Enter?
These awards acknowledge both individuals and organisations that have achieved great success. Whether that be through leadership, training, innovation, growth, people, community, culture, diversity, or sustainability – these awards recognise and celebrate hard work and achievement.
Each award profiles excellence in business or individuals, and we would love to hear from you and your organisation.
We want to hear your story on what you have achieved, the judges will be interested to hear what changes and improvements have been made, how you have managed to navigate the challanges of the last few years, technological advancements, growth, talent, training and development and people challenges.
These awards look to acknowledge those organisations and individuals that have gone above and beyond, achieving great results, inspiring others and demonstrating best practice.
This is an opportunity to showcase shining examples of excellence and achievement.
Entries are open to all C2S Members and Non-Members.