Family Business Awards FAQs

The Winners and Highly Commended in each of our 10 judged categories, and the People's Choice Award decided purely by public vote, will be announced at the Awards Ceremony & Dinner on Thursday 3 October 2024.

The Midlands Family Business Awards are organised by The Wilson Organisation, a third generation family business founded in 1914. Wilsons provide insurance and financial solutions to businesses across the Midlands and UK, so organising Awards isn't the day job, it's part of their CSR. Wilsons is run by Charlotte Perkins, Group MD and Annabel Jackson Prow, CEO, who are the creators and driving force behind the Midlands Family Business Awards. Charlotte and Annabel are supported at Wilsons by their father John Prow (Chairman) and mother Olga. Find our more at www.wilorg.com

Entries for the 2024 Awards open on Thursday 22 February 2024. The Awards are completely free to enter and each family business can enter two categories for which they are eligible. Entries will be made online through the entry portal.

Entries into the Family Business Awards are completely free - no registration fees, no admin fees, no entry fees. Each family business can enter up to two categories for which they are eligible. Our finalists all have the opportunity to purchase tickets to the Awards Ceremony & Dinner taking place on Thursday 3 October, to include a drinks reception, three course menu and table wine. We are very fortunate that tickets have sold out every year, so these have never been placed on general sale. Everyone in attendance is involved with the Awards either as a sponsor, judge or finalist making for a great atmosphere.

The Midlands Family Business Awards team is committed to protecting your privacy. We understand that the information you provide to us is your information, and we intend to keep it that way. We don't share data, sell data or mail you on behalf of others and we comply with the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act. Our Judges sign a Confidentiality Agreement before they receive your entry. We will use the details you provide to keep you up-to-date with Awards information, news and family business events, and will always provide you with a way to unsubscribe. If you have any queries in relation to your data please contact Ped Briggs on 0115 942 7506 or email [email protected]

The Midlands Family Business Awards key dates for 2024 are detailed below. 21 February – Launch Event A lunchtime event for our family businesses, sponsors and judges to join us and celebrate the launch of the 2024 Midlands Family Business Awards. 22 February – Entries Open Entries will open on Thursday 22 February at 9am. The Awards are completely free to enter and each family business can enter two categories for which they are eligible. Entries will be made online through the entry portal. 6 April – Entries Close We’ll send a reminder to all entrants that have not submitted entry forms. It takes a while to prepare the shortlisting packs for our Judges, so in exceptional circumstances we can grant a short extension to the deadline. 29 April – Finalists Announced The six Finalists in each of our 10 categories will be announced on Monday 29 April. Each finalist announced in our 10 judged categories will then be entered the People’s Choice Award. 16 May – Finalists Celebration We will host the Finalists Celebration and Judging Briefing on 16 May, this will be hosted in Birmingham and it will be a lunchtime event. 3 June to 28 June – Judging Days Judging for each of our 10 categories, each with their own independent judging panel, the judging date for the categories you enter will be published on the entry form, so when you submit your entry please tentatively book the dates in your diaries. 4 July – People’s Choice Briefing We will host the People’s Choice Briefing on 4 July in Birmingham, this will be a lunchtime event followed by a Brand workshop. 2 September to 27 September – People’s Choice Voting The People’s Choice voting will open on Tuesday 2 September, giving finalists plenty of time following the Briefing to prepare their voting campaigns. Voting will close on 27 September, a week before the Awards Ceremony & Dinner. 3 October – Awards Ceremony & Dinner The Awards Ceremony & Dinner will take place on Thursday 3 October. Further information For further information or help with your 2024 entries, please contact: Ped Briggs [email protected] 0115 9427506 or 07769 258 307 Natalie Jackson [email protected] 07500 837 512

We define a family business as being influenced by a family or by a family relationship and that perceives itself to be a family business. For example, the family as a body may effectively control business operations because it owns more than 50% of the voting shares or because family members fill a significant number of the top management positions. Since 2010 we've had finalists running family businesses that are in their 14th generation, through to husband and wife teams with newly established family businesses - and everything in between. We usually say ‘if you think you’re a family business, then you probably are!’ If you are not sure if your family business will qualify please get in touch.

For the purposes of the Midlands Family Business Awards, we define the Midlands as including Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, Lincolnshire, Birmingham, West Midlands, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Northamptonshire. We also accept entries from the informal region known as the South Midlands which includes areas of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. We review our counties list each year and if you have any doubt as to whether you fall within our region, just ask!