Corporate Social Responsibility Awards: Criteria and Opportunities

An increasingly popular area for awards internationally is CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility. If your company has successful corporate citizenship and social impact programs, it needs to be recognized! External recognition can enhance your reputation, attract the best talent, and foster a robust company culture. Would you say that your business is more ethical or sustainable than your competitors or peers? If so then you deserve to be recognised for this, and benefit from this when competing for customers and talent.

The Award for Corporate Social Responsibility celebrates organisations that demonstrate exceptional commitment to ethical, inclusive, and sustainable business practices. This prestigious award recognises businesses that go beyond traditional corporate responsibility by embedding accessibility, inclusion, and/or social impact at the heart of their strategic approach. Nominations are sought from commercial businesses who have integrated open and transparent business practices based on ethical values, accessible and inclusive initiatives and respect for employees, customers, communities, owners/investors, government, suppliers, competitors and the environment, which contribute to sustainable business success.

Here are some of the most relevant International CSR Awards, Sustainability Awards and Green Awards.

Many CSR awards require evidence of business benefits as well as societal benefits. It might surprise you to know that most CSR awards require evidence of business benefits as well as societal benefits. This is where most applications fall short. However, if your work is absolutely only for societal benefits and you are not measuring the business benefits, then there is an international award for you: The Communitas Awards. This scheme doesn’t have an awards dinner as such, but it will assess your story and, if worthy, award you a lovely trophy and logo in recognition of it. It operates year-round but with a series of quarterly deadlines. There are 24 categories but they do recognise that there is some overlap between categories so they are open to interpretation.

Key Aspects of CSR Awards

Some awards focus on a specific theme, like environment awards or community awards, but the generalist CSR awards tend to have separate categories covering these.

Here’s a look at some of the key aspects of CSR awards:

• Ethical Values: Open and transparent business practices based on ethical values.
• Inclusivity: Accessible and inclusive initiatives.
• Respect: Respect for employees, customers, communities, owners/investors, government, suppliers, competitors, and the environment.
• Sustainability: Contribution to sustainable business success.

Are you ready to enter and start your exciting Awards journey? The first step is to create a profile via the application portal available HERE then select a category or categories and complete your nomination via the nomination form fields. Within the portal, entrants will be able to submit images and documents to support your nomination. Only nomination forms with completed answers will be accepted.

Every company or organisation is invited to submit a free entry. All companies are invited to submit one FREE ENTRY. Entrants can submit as many additional fee paid entries as they wish. There is no limit to how many trophies a company can win. The closing date for free entries is January 31. Additional and late entries are accepted until February 28 on payment of the appropriate late entry fees. Entrants can submit separate papers on different projects and can submit the same paper in more than one appropriate category. It is possible to win more than one award.

There will be FOUR chances of success for each entry, as we present Gold, Silver and Bronze awards in each category - plus an overall winner. Our panel of independent judges all have experience in the field of corporate social responsibility.

Boost Awards is the world’s first and largest award entry consultancy, having helped clients, from SMEs to Multinationals, win over 2,000 credible business awards, including many international CSR awards, environmental awards and awards for sustainability. Please also read our article How you can boost your ESG rating with awards.

Notable CSR Awards

There are no shortage of awards that focus on initiatives, projects and campaigns. Here are some notable CSR awards.

• Reuters Events Responsible Business Awards: These awards (deadline August) are run from England by the London-based Ethical Corporation. They provide an excellent choice of categories for whole business or individual functions such as marketing and supply chain. They focus on the private sector but have a Social Enterprise of the year category.
• The Seal Business Sustainability Awards: These awards are open until the start of October and honor leadership for both overall, company-wide organizational impact and specifically focused initiatives that help spur innovation in environmental progress.
• The World’s Most Ethical Companies: As the name suggests, these are for the business as a whole. Their deadline is usually around the middle of November. Here the rating process is based upon their unique ‘Ethics Quotient’ system, and awards are given out based on 26 industry sectors from Aerospace to Wholesale.
• The Golden Peacock Awards: These awards are run from New Delhi in India, and are a bit of an audit of a business’ approach to CSR.
• The Green Apple Awards for Environmental Best Practice: These awards have a deadline of 31st July every year (late deadline 31st August) with categories for types of project like “Habitat & Diversity” and “Energy Management” alongside a long list of specific industry sectors like “Automotive Industry” and “Banking/Finance/Insurance”.
• The Green World Awards: These are awards for environmental best practice by companies, organisations and governments with a deadline of 31st July each year. There are four chances to win: gold, silver and bronze awards in every category in each sector, and the highest scorer in each will be declared a Green World Champion.
• The Gulf Sustainability Awards: These regional awards are an annual celebration of conscientious business practice and feature a live contest and ceremony in Dubai. The awards reward those organisations who are leading the way in Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG), and feature lots of categories to choose from for environmental sustainability programmes, sustainable business models, green building, community impact and innovation in sustainable technologies, among many others.
• The SEAL Award For Environmental Initiatives: If you have a specific environmental initiative which can bear up under scrutiny, then these awards, with an early October deadline, enable applicants to be assessed in a manner more akin to an accreditation process than most awards schemes. Entries are judged against the following criteria: impact metrics, innovation/uniqueness of the initiative, sharing of insights and best practices, and investment of organizational leadership capital. They are only for specific initiatives, as compared to overall, company-wide sustainability performance.
• The Rushlight Awards: If your project involves something to do with “clean tech” then you should consider these awards. The deadline each year is 30th November, and they feature 30 categories organised by five main groups: Natural Energy; Clean Energy; Processed Energy; Resources; and Environment.
• The edie Sustainability Awards: Now in their 15th year, these UK-based awards are open to companies and organisations of all sizes worldwide, covering all key aspects of business sustainability.
• The Global Good Awards: These excellent awards, which really set an example in terms of an ethically-run awards scheme, are UK focused but they have a “Best International Sustainability Project” category that you might want to consider.
• The International CSR Excellence Awards: These awards are squarely aimed at the international community and have a massive 42 categories, each of which can have multiple gold winners and a “champion”. They are free to enter until late March, then paid entries until the final deadline which is usually 31st May.
• The Sustainability Awards: These awards honour individuals and organisations that have made sustainability an integral part of their business practice, and can demonstrate that earth-friendly business is also smart business.
• D&AD IMPACT AWARDS: DEADLINE: March 15, 2023. The D&AD Awards gather the world’s best creative work from across the commercial design, advertising, production and craft disciplines to be judged by more than 400 global creative leaders, practitioners and innovators. Their categories span the full spectrum of disciplines, including social good with “Impact” and “Future Impact” awards.
• THE CIVIC 50: DEADLINE: March 17, 2023. The Civic 50, an initiative of Points of Light, recognizes the 50 most community-minded companies in the nation each year as determined by an annual survey administered by True Impact. The Civic 50 honorees are selected based on the four dimensions of their community engagement and social impact programs: investment of resources, integration across business functions, institutionalization through policies and systems and impact measurement.
• BCCCC’S CORPORATE CITIZEN INNOVATION AWARDS: DEADLINE: March 24, 2023. The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship Innovation Awards honor and celebrate the achievements of forward-thinking companies and individuals that have applied the assets of their business to create positive social and/or environmental impacts. Categories include: Social Impact Change Maker, Transformative Partnership, Eco Innovator and Innovation Amplifier.
• ACCP’S PURPOSE AWARDS: DEADLINE: Will open Spring 2023. Every year, through the Purpose Awards, ACCP acknowledges and celebrates corporate citizenship professionals who serve as beacons of excellence in their field. ACCP recognizes individuals each year with the following designations: Champion for Change, Trailblazer, Rising Star and, new for 2023, Corporate Social Impact Team of the Year.
• P3 IMPACT AWARD: DEADLINE: April 7, 2023. Department of State’s Office of Global Partnerships to recognize and honor leading public-private partnerships (P3s) that improve communities and the world. Inaugurated in 2014, the award seeks to highlight leading practices and actionable insights in the P3 arena.
• D CEO AND COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS: DEADLINE: April 14, 2023. Through the Nonprofit and Corporate Citizenship Awards, D CEO and Communities Foundation of Texas, are proud to honor professionals and organizations in the Dallas Fort Worth area from the nonprofit world that make a positive and efficient impact on the community, while celebrating the efforts of corporations and business leaders that support and collaborate with local nonprofits.
• FAST COMPANY BRANDS THAT MATTER: DEADLINE: April 14, 2023. Fast Company’s Brands That Matter showcases brands that communicate and demonstrate brand purpose. Brands That Matter honorees don’t just recite corporate vision statements or management talking points; they have achieved relevance through cultural impact and social engagement, and their branding authentically communicates a brand’s current mission and ideals.
• GLOBAL GOODS AWARDS: DEADLINE: April 21, 2023. The Global Goods Awards reward businesses, NGOs, charities and social enterprises of all shapes and sizes around the world, that are blazing the trail for purpose-driven sustainability and ethical leadership. They recognize leaders who are achieving practical, real-world impact that is both scalable and replicable - and who have inspiring stories to tell.
• CATALYST AWARD: DEADLINE: May 12, 2023. The Catalyst Award is the premier recognition of organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that drive representation and inclusion for women.
• REUTERS EVENTS RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS AWARDS: DEADLINE: June 30, 2023. Reuters Events Responsible Business Awards are the world’s leading awards celebrating leadership in sustainable business. It’s more than acknowledging excellent sustainability strategies. The Responsible Business Awards recognize those that are truly having an impact on business, society and the environment - delivering a new blueprint for business in the 21st Century.
• FAST COMPANY MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES: DEADLINE: Not yet announced; likely in September 2023. Since 2008, Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies has been the definitive source for recognizing the organizations that are transforming industries and shaping society. Categories include: corporate social responsibility and social good, among many others.
• THE DRUM AWARDS FOR SOCIAL PURPOSE: DEADLINE: Not yet announced; likely in October 2023. The Drum Awards for Social Purpose celebrate the people and brands, making a positive contribution through responsible marketing. These awards are truly global, and open to teams and companies from anywhere in Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa or the Americas.
• ENGAGE FOR GOOD’S HALO AWARDS: The Halo Awards are one of North America’s highest honor for corporate social initiatives and cause marketing and showcase successful consumer engagement and employee engagement efforts. These CSR, cause marketing and corporate social impact awards focus on initiatives in which brand purpose and social impact intersect to help build a better world and the bottom line.
• THE US CHAMBER FOUNDATION’S CITIZEN’S AWARD: DEADLINE: Not yet announced. Chamber Foundation’s Citizen’s Award recognize the most innovative and impactful corporate citizenship programs from businesses, chambers, and associations of all sizes.
• RAGAN AND PR DAILY’s CSR & DIVERSITY AWARDS: DEADLINE: Currently closed for 2023. Ragan and PR Daily’s annual CSR & Diversity Awards recognize the influential communications work that has been instrumental in positively impacting communities, whether internally, locally or globally.
• 3BL MEDIA’S RESPONSIBLE CEO OF THE YEAR AWARDS: DEADLINE: Currently closed for 2023.

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