How to enter

Happy 20th birthday to the Apprenticeship Guide!

The Apprenticeship Guide has been supporting apprenticeships along their journeys since 2005.

Now in its second year, the Apprenticeship Guide Awards is uniquely positioned to celebrate outstanding apprenticeship employers and providers!

Categories are designed to encourage nominations from small, mid-tier, and large firms, while also offering a wide range of individual and team awards. The very best employers will be scrutinised, recognised, and rewarded.

An independent panel of local and national experts from the profession judge the awards every year, ensuring a fair and robust process.

The awards culminate in a black-tie ceremony and dinner, held in Manchester, where the finalists meet, network and celebrate as a profession.

On this page, you’ll find everything you need to produce a submission that our independent panel of judges will find clear, concise and memorable.

How to enter How to win Rules Contact us Register now to enter

How to enter

The deadline for submissions for the 2025 Awards is 20 December 2024.

  • Register

    To enter the Apprenticeship Guide Awards, you need to register and pay the £150 registration fee. This will enable you to access the entry form and enter as many categories as you wish.

    Click here to register

  • Pick your categories

    The categories are designed to encourage submissions from every kind of business, while also offering a wide range of individual and team awards, with a view to enabling the very best employers to be scrutinised, recognised and rewarded.

    And you can enter as many as you wish.

    Read the criteria carefully for each and decide which will give you the best opportunity to demonstrate your strengths.

    The criteria are in a Q&A format, so follow this closely to provide the independent judging panel with a clear, easy-to-follow submission and include all of the information requested. Rest assured, the process is entirely confidential.

    Read the categories & criteria

  • Choose the form of your submission

    Make sure every submission is unique for the category that you’re entering.

    We accept written submissions of between 250 and 1,000 words per category (please note: this is in total, not per criterion).

    Written submissions are at their best after several drafts, with input from everyone involved. Remember that your submission needs to stand out from the crowd, so keep it active, free of jargon, and don’t forget to proofread your words before entering.

    Alternatively, you can enter a video submission. You’ll have a maximum of three minutes to demonstrate why you, your team or business should win the particular category. Videos are easy to digest and revisit, and they allow the judges to put a face to an entry.

    Please note, we are no longer accepting video files. To submit a video, you must upload it to a third-party platform such as YouTube or your own website and supply a link (ensure that the video is private or password protected before submitting).

  • Submit via the form

    Entries should be submitted no later than 11.59pm on the entry deadline.

    Submissions can only be accepted via the entry form, which you can access after registering and paying the registration fee.

    Fill out all of the required information. There are mandatory fields for the person providing the submission as well as the subject of the submission.

    If you are putting an organisation forward for an award, mark the fields under the Nominee heading with an ‘N/A’ except for the Company name field and make sure you choose the correct category from the list. Doing so reveals the correct category criteria and fields in which to paste your submission. The form must be filled out and submitted for every category.

    The form removes all formatting, so don’t worry about italics, bolding, underlining or hyperlinking, as these won’t make it through our system. Furthermore, no supporting documents and attachments are allowed, so don’t use the attach buttons for CVs, promo videos, PDFs and Word docs—these won’t make it through our system, either.

    For written submissions, input your 250 to 1,000 words in the provided fields. For video submissions, fill out the form (except the criteria fields) and paste the link to your video into the one of the criteria fields.

    Log in to view the entry form

  • Attach your logo

    If you make it to the shortlist, we’ll need a high-resolution version of your logo for the ceremony and marketing campaigns. We accept the .JPEG, .PNG and .PDF formats, but prefer .EPS wherever possible. If you don’t have this, don’t worry.

  • Attach nominee’s photo

    This is for the Talent categories. Colour photos are preferred, wide, horizontal shots work well, and high resolution .JPEG is best.

  • Sit back and wait for news

    That’s it, you’re done! Approximately two weeks following the submission deadline, our judging panel will convene to make their decisions. We’ll then get in touch with every finalist to give them the good news.

How to win

It’s all about being memorable and compelling:

  • Start early. Give yourself plenty of time to carefully evaluate the criteria for the categories you’re entering and provide a well-produced submission before the entry deadline.
  • Check the criteria. Each category has its own criteria, and each submission should be unique.
  • Provide evidence. Include as many results and evidence of success as you can, including testimonials. Judges are there to be swayed, so sway them.
  • Keep it simple. Write or speak clearly and concisely so the judges can quickly understand the points you’re making.
  • Consult with the relevant team. Collaborate on your submission as you do your work, and ensure that your whole team contributes.
  • Be enthusiastic, transparent, and honest. Inspire the judges by sharing your organisation’s ethos and passion for your work without trying to pull the wool over their eyes. Honesty is the best policy.
  • Redraft and revise. Once your submission is ready, start again and interrogate every fact and figure. Are they correct? Question every claim. Is that true? Weigh your language. Is that a helpful term or an empty buzzword?

Rules and requirements

  • Entrants must be based in England or provide apprenticeships or training in England
  • Entrants can enter as many categories as they wish
  • Entrants are encouraged to limit submissions to two entries per category; further submissions may not be considered.
  • Submissions must be unique and tailored to meet the criteria of each category.
  • Self-nomination is required.
  • Written and video submissions are accepted – both must follow the criteria format.
  • Submissions can be made until 11.59pm on the entry deadline day
  • Entrants are expected to send at least one representative to attend the in-person ceremony.
  • Entries submitted by companies that have undergone administration, liquidation, or significant restructuring will be subject to review to ensure continuity of operations, leadership, and client commitments.
  • The Apprenticeship Guide Awards reserves the right to disqualify entries where there are concerns about corporate governance, financial stability, or ethical business practices.
  • The judging panel has the final authority to determine whether an entry meets the spirit and intent of the awards.
  • The Apprenticeship Guide Awards reserves the right to remove any entries or finalists that do not meet the above criteria or that, in the judges’ discretion, could undermine the integrity of the awards.

I have a question about…

Headshot of Ian CottonFor information on sponsorship, contact Ian Cotton

ian.cotton@barkerbrooks.co.uk

+44 (0)113 521 6093

A round headshot of Anabel Page, who works on tickets for the Apprenticeship Guide. She is wearing scholarly wire frame glasses and has her brown hair parted in the centre. She is smiling and wearing a professional white shirt.For information on your entry, contact Anabel Page

anabel.page@barkerbrooks.co.uk

+44 (0)113 887 7007

The Apprenticeship Guide Awards 2026

These awards were developed to celebrate the incredible employers and education providers who enable the successes their apprentices.

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