The city of a thousand trades is still making things happen.
Birmingham built its name by making things. It still does, in manufacturing and engineering, but also in tech, creative industries, food, professional services and a new generation of founders who could have started anywhere and chose here.
The Birmingham Excellence Award exists to recognise excellence wherever it happens in this city, and to celebrate the people who keep Birmingham's reputation for graft alive.
Made in Birmingham.
Proud of it.
Worth recognising.
Birmingham has always made things. Now it makes the future too.
A workshop in the Jewellery Quarter carrying on a craft that is centuries old.
A Digbeth studio building products used around the world.
A family restaurant on the Ladypool Road that feeds half the neighbourhood.
An engineering firm that retrained its people for a changing industry.
A founder who turned a market stall into a brand.
Birmingham rarely shouts about what it does.
This award does it instead.
“You kept the city making.”
“Birmingham is proud of that.”
Excellence, the Birmingham way.
Craft
Doing the work properly, with skill that takes years to learn.
Graft
The effort behind every good year, and every hard one.
Reinvention
Changing with the times without losing what made you good.
Enterprise
New businesses starting in a city that backs its own.
Diversity
Businesses as varied as the city itself.
Impact
Making a real difference to Birmingham and the people in it.
From the Jewellery Quarter to the new tech quarter.
The Birmingham Excellence Award is open to every business and every person doing excellent work in this city.
The Maker
Who still builds things with their hands and their head.
The Founder
Who could have started anywhere, and chose Birmingham.
The Family Business
Two, three or four generations and still going.
The Innovator
Bringing new ideas to old industries.
The Employer
Creating skilled work for people in the city.
The Community Business
At the heart of its neighbourhood.
Which one sounds like your business?
Excellence is not about size.
Some of the best work in Birmingham is done by businesses most of the city has never heard of.
Perhaps you make one thing, brilliantly.
Perhaps you have never advertised.
Perhaps you kept every job through a difficult year.
Perhaps you took an old trade somewhere new.
Perhaps your customers come back for decades.
Perhaps that is excellence, and it deserves to be seen.
The question isn't:
“Are we good enough for an excellence award?”
A better question might be:
“Is there excellence in what we do every day?”
Recognition can open new doors.
Credibility
Independent recognition can add weight when you pitch for work or talk to partners.
Visibility
It can introduce your business to people across the city and beyond.
Pride
A way of saying thank you to the people who made it happen.
Talent
Recognition can help attract people who want to do great work.
Conversations
An awards evening can connect you with the rest of Birmingham's business community.
Heritage
A recognised year becomes part of your business's story.
Birmingham's best rarely blow their own trumpet.
They may say:
“We just get on with it.”
“It's nothing special.”
“Others deserve it more.”
And sometimes that is exactly why somebody else needs to say:
“What you do is special.”
“Birmingham should know.”
“You deserve to be recognised.”
If a Birmingham business came to mind, perhaps their nomination starts with you.
Recognition only matters when it is earned.
The value of an award depends on the integrity behind it, so the way entries are judged should be clear before anyone enters.
Free to enter
Nominating and entering cost nothing. No category depends on buying a ticket, a table or a package.
Independent judging
Entries are scored by an independent panel, not by the organisers, working under a confidentiality agreement.
Read moreClear criteria
Every category publishes what the judges look for, so you can read it before you enter.
Read moreConflicts managed
Judges declare any conflict of interest and stand aside from the entries it touches.
Read moreSponsors support the awards. They never decide the results.
From a name to the night itself.
Discover
Find the award category that fits the achievement best.
Nominate
Nominate your own business, or a Birmingham business you admire.
Tell the story
Share what was achieved, and the difference it made.
Judging
Eligible entries are judged against the published criteria.
Recognition
Finalists and winners are celebrated at the awards.
Birmingham built the modern world. Its businesses are still building.
Maybe it is the maker in the Quarter.
Maybe it is the start-up in Digbeth.
Maybe it is the family firm down your road.
Or maybe it is yours.