Once you enter the venue, head up the stairs, and you’ll be welcomed by one of our team members at the reception desk.  Please collect your name badge, and then grab yourself a welcome drink and some food. If you are a finalist and don’t have your finalist certificate yet, this will also be available to collect from the reception desk.

The dress code is smart/business casual.

The event is very relaxed, and we try to make it as friendly a space as possible. This is the agenda for the evening…

5:00pm Registration, welcome drink, hot fork buffet and networking
6:30pm Ceremony begins
7:30pm Ceremony ends
8:00pm Event ends

No, if you have booked your ticket online you will be added to our guest list and will not need to bring a ticket with you. 

Information on how to get to the Leicester Tigers Stadium can be found online here:

Getting to Mattioli Woods Welford Road

Is there parking?

The stadium has a limited number of car park spaces on site with a further 550 spaces located just a short walk away.

What’s the nearest tube station?

The nearest train station is London Road Railway Station, a short 15-minute walk away from the stadium. 

Yes, a hot fork buffet will be served before the ceremony, 5:00pm – 6:00pm. 

Yes, anyone is welcome to attend the event. Tickets are available to purchase here. 

Yes, the hashtag for the event is #EWiFawards

Please email info@ewif.org as soon as possible to let us know.

Tickets for the awards evening are £45 and are available to purchase here.

If you’re one of our fabulous winners, once your name has been read out, please make your way to the stage where you will receive your winner’s certificate and trophy from your category sponsor, you will then have a quick photo taken before you make your way back to your table. 

Sadly due to time constraints, there won’t be time for you to give a speech.

Yes! We will have our roving photographer, taking photos throughout the course of the event, so make sure you grab him for a photo. There will be an official awards backdrop to have your photo taken against.

Yes, there will be time before the ceremony begins for networking, 5:00pm – 6:30pm. Attendees will have the chance to connect with industry leaders, peers, and potential collaborators.

No, unfortunately, the award ceremony will not be broadcasted online to watch remotely.

• The awards are open to all UK businesses involved in franchising, you do not need to be a member of EWiF to enter.
• You can enter the awards yourself or for someone else with their permission, e.g. one of your franchisees or team members. You would need to supply the entrants contact details when entering.
• You can enter multiple awards but you must complete an Award Entry for EACH category you are entering.
• Sponsors may enter awards but if they enter an award they are sponsoring, they will not be able to judge their category.
• Two (or more) people can enter one award if the business is jointly owned. For example, if two franchisees are named on the Franchise Agreement they can jointly enter an award.

Yes! The awards are open to all UK businesses involved in franchising. 

Once entries open for the 2026 Awards…

1. Read through the Award Entry Guidance document to see what is required for each award category and whether you qualify for that category. Note the required evidence to submit with your entry.
2. Write your Award Entry Written Statement where you can demonstrate why you should win your chosen award (word count 850 words)
3. Gather all the evidence required and any extra evidence you would like to submit
4. Head to the online entry form and complete all the required information and confirm that you have understood and agree to the conditions for the award
5. Submit your completed Award Entry to us with ALL supporting material, you can submit up to 12 pieces of supporting material.

• You can enter more than one category but you must complete an online entry form for each category.
• Only one franchisee/employee per brand can enter each category.

The finalists will be announced on 31st March 2026.

Make sure you read through the Award Entry Guidance document which will tell you what you need to include for each award category.

No. The awards are completely free to enter!

1. EWiF Senior Management do first round judging to compile a shortlist in each category.
2. The shortlist for each category is then judged by the EWiF Regional Chairs and the Award Sponsor judge for the shortlist in their category.
3. All the scores from the EWiF Senior management, EWiF Regional Chairs and Sponsors are added together to give the winner in each category.
4. Where an entry is from the same company as a member of the judging panel, that judge cannot judge that category.
5. The judge’s decision is final and there will be no written correspondence regarding their decisions.

Yes, we would like to encourage all of last year’s entrants to re-enter this year’s awards.

As much as we’d like to offer feedback on individual submissions, this is unfortunately not feasible due to the high number of entries.