It is high time for SmallBusiness.co.uk to celebrate the achievements of our readership with our own awards ceremony.

The event in question will be October’s British Small Business Awards, and we are excited to showcase the best small companies, alongside the advisers and vendors that contributed to their success.

Too often, the smallest companies go unrecognised. A modest marketing budget will often mean the process of getting your name out is a struggle.

Many other business events claim to support such operators, but all too often it is the companies that have already travelled far in their journey; recognised businesses with extensive financial backing, long histories of profitability and established customer bases that you see in the shortlists.

To my mind, most of these aren’t really small businesses at all.

What of those sole trader companies forging their way in the world, the freelancers, the small family-run shops, the modestly-sized but successful outfits that are so integral to our economy?

In my view, they don’t get much recognition beyond the popular parlance of being the ‘engine room’ or ‘lifeblood’ of the economy.

While true, how do these platitudes help such companies? You can bet your annual turnover that most micro-business owners would swap all the empty rhetoric for one or two government policies that actually help them raise money, market themselves, or take on an employee.

SmallBusiness.co.uk offers advice on starting, running, growing and succeeding in your company, and October’s event will put the smallest operators at the forefront.

We will have a Sole Trader of the Year award, recognising the sole trader business that provides a service/product that stands above peers, demonstrating consistent sales over the past year and a niche position in its industry.

For those with staff, our Micro Business of the Year gong will be aimed at companies of 2-9 people that have demonstrated strong revenue growth and a product or service of a quality that stands above competitors.

The identifying of and capitalising on scale opportunities will also be noted by the judges.

And for companies with 10-50 employees, our Small Business of the Year category will celebrate the most innovative and sector-disrupting service/product that has shown strong turnover growth over the past year.

As well as this, your business will have the chance to nominate for such gongs as Website of the Year, Leader of the Year, and Innovation of the Year.

For full details, please click here.

Our parent company Vitesse Media is a respected name in events, being responsible for such successful awards ceremonies as:

http://womeninitawards.com/
http://www.investorallstars.com/IAS/

We look forward to seeing you at the British Small Business Awards. It is sure to be a great celebration of those businesses propping up the country.