You can enter these awards by clicking the ENTER NOW next to your chosen category. You will be taken to our online portal where you will need to create an account to submit your entry. This will allow you to save your progress and submit at a later date. Don't forget to click the COMPLETE button to make sure your entry gets to us!

The deadline for entries is 6pm 5th October. Entries that have been submitted can be edited until the deadline.

It is free to put an entry forward into the Sunderland Excellence in Business Awards. Shortlisted finalists will then be expected to purchase a ticket to attend the awards ceremony.

Any businesses within the Sunderland Echo circulation area including Businesses in Sunderland & County Durham are valid to enter.

Yes. All entries should not exceed 1000 words in total for the main entry questions, this excludes contact information questions. Additional questions will have shorter word limits and will be listed next to each question where this applies. Any entries which drastically exceed this word could be disqualified by judges.

Unfortunately due to the level of entries, judges will not be able to provide feedback.

Yes of course! Please create your own account if you are from an agency and use this to process any entries for your clients. Simply complete each entry as if you were your client ensuring you provide contact details for the business you are entering in the relevant questions.

We work with Lucinda White from Pure Awards who specialises in awards entry writing. Visit her website to find out about her services, or take a look at our blog post which includes 10 Top Tips for awards entry writing.

It is recommended that you enter no more than 3 categories per business. Read through the criteria and select the categories that apply to your business the best. A separate entry will need to be submitted for each category as the judges will score by different criteria.

Yes! You may upload 1 pdf file of up to 3 a4 pages. This can include things like images, testimonials, charts, figures etc but not additional wording that you wish the judges to score.

Any information provided will be used for the judging process. All judges will have access to all information submitted in your entry. A brief overview of your business may be used to provide details to event attendees about our shortlist during the event but if there is anything that should remain completely confidential please highlight this in your entry.

Judges will use our online entry portal to review all entries. If you are struggling to use the portal, please get in touch with our event manager lisa.bradbury@nationalworld.com who will be able to advise if the best process going forward.

Finalists will be announced following the  judging which takes place after entries close on 23rd September.

Judging is due to take place week commencing 3rd October 2022.

A full shortlist will be published in the Sunderland Echo and, announced online.

Our winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony at the Stadium of Light on Thursday 17th November 2022.