BUSINESSES in Cumbria are being encouraged to nominate themselves for a prestigious award.

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise (QAE) are said to be the most prestigious in the UK for businesses and is a globally recognised royal mark.

The QAE is for outstanding achievement by UK businesses in the categories of innovation, international trade, sustainable development and promoting opportunity through social mobility.

The use of the prestigious QAE emblem is a recognised royal endorsement that can help to get people’s businesses noticed both at home and overseas.

Winning businesses are permitted to fly The Queen’s Awards flag at their main office and use the esteemed QAE emblem on products and stationery for the next 5 years.

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Cockermouth Town Council is one such council across the country which is spreading the word.

They said feedback from previous winners suggests that winning a QAE can benefit businesses with excellent marketing opportunities and press coverage, worldwide recognition as an outstanding British company, increased turnover and international trade and a boost to staff morale, and also to partners and stakeholders.

The QAE is a self-nominating process and is open to almost all businesses across the UK, of all sizes, and in every sector.

It is also free to enter, and the application process is all online.

For Cumbria, 99.7 per cent of businesses are small to medium enterprises (SMEs), which means they employ not more than 250 employees, and 98.3 per cent have less than 50 employees so are classified as small or micro, so wining a QAE would go quite a long way for not only the small businesses but the Cumbrian economy in general.

Applications for the 2023 QAEs must be submitted by 12:00 pm on September 6, 2022.

The Cumbria Lieutenancy Office is keen to encourage entries for the 2023 awards and may be able to offer advice and mentoring to eligible applicants for the completion of the online application form.

They can be contacted by email at Lieutenancy@cumbria.gov.uk.

Alternatively, to contact The Queen's Awards Office directly, call their helpline on 020 7215 6880 or email queensawards@beis.gov.uk.

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