• The awards are open to all UK businesses involved in franchising, you do not need to be a member of EWiF to enter (except for the Ambassador of the Year category).
• 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! 8 of the 9 awards are open to all UK businesses involved in franchising. The only award where you need to be a member is the EWiF Ambassador of the Year category.

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.

TBC

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.

Yes, if the business is co-owed by women, both owners may be on the entry form.

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