The King's Awards for Enterprise

Applications for this year’s round have now closed. Results will be announced next year in May 2026.

You could plan to apply next year. This could be you – meeting His Majesty The King as a result of receiving The King’s Award for Enterprise.

But you have to apply. Sara Lawton of Rise Construction Framework did just that, and since receiving the Award Sara has met The King and the Prime Minister to talk about the organisation’s work in the category Promoting Opportunity through Social Mobility.

Rise Construction exists, not only to provide a compliant routeway to market for the public sector to procure contractors and consultants to deliver capital projects across the North West, but also to operate for the wider benefit of communities.

The King’s Award for Enterprise

The King’s Awards for Enterprise, the KAE, are the highest awards that a business in the UK can receive.

The KAE is awarded for outstanding achievement by UK businesses in the categories of:

Innovation
International Trade
Sustainable Development
Promoting Opportunity through Social Mobility

The benefits of securing this most prestigious award include:

Improved opportunities to break into new markets
Enhancing the ability of your organisation to attract the best talent
Raising awareness of your brand both here and internationally
Use of the KAE emblem, and a presentation from His Majesty The King at Windsor Castle

Last year five Merseyside companies were successful in being awarded The King’s Award for Enterprise, and received their awards from the Lord-Lieutenant:

Alfred H Knight Holdings Ltd, (Innovation)

Alfred H Knight is a family-owned business that has been operating on a truly global scale for close to 150 years and continues to grow at a rapid pace. Being awarded its disruptive innovation in the digital transformation of complex inspection services in Africa’s metals and minerals sector is a significant achievement.

The development of this mobile technology solution, “In Track”, occurred remotely during the Pandemic years. This meant advancing the digitisation of inspection services and managing the change programme in a sub-Saharan setting without ever visiting the mine because of travel restrictions.

The global collaboration and the expertise involved show this is indeed a ‘real world’ operational story, covering the industrial application of technology by a company that lives and breathes quality.

JJ Smith & Co (Woodworking Machinery) Ltd. (International Trade)

JJ Smith & Co (Woodworking Machinery) Ltd is a fourth-generation family business founded by four brothers in 1923 which has been at the forefront of engineering for over 100 years.

The company supplies machinery to a wide variety of businesses, including offsite construction, shed and garden building manufacturers, door, staircase and window specialists, prisons and local colleges.

JJ Smith’s core values of never standing still, looking out for its people, acting with integrity and taking the long-term view are central to everything it does and has kept the company doing the right thing over the past century.

As a small business, it is able to provide customers with a personal service from its sale team through to its highly trained engineers, offering the most technically suitable and cost-effective machining solutions to meet production requirements, as well as providing technical support, servicing and aftercare.

John Mason International Ltd. (International Trade)

John Mason International Ltd is the UK’s leading international moving company, helping to relocate families, businesses and individuals globally.

Renowned for its meticulous and efficient service, it moves over 10,000 people annually to destinations such as Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada, South Africa and the UAE.

Headquartered in Knowsley, with facilities in Hemel Hempstead, John Mason International offers comprehensive moving solutions, including expert packing, secure storage and transportation of household names.

Richardsons Healthcare Ltd. (International Trade)

With over 50 years of expertise, Richardsons delivers top-tier patient support systems and expert advice on mattresses for table manufacturers.

Richardsons’s cutting edge manufacturing techniques ensure quality, rigorous testing guarantees, excellence in conductivity, fluid resistance, and aesthetics for its operating table mattresses and other field-specific products.

Rise Construction Framework (Promoting Opportunity through Social Mobility)

By investing profits directly into the VCFSE sector to fund vital community intervention and prevention services, the framework helps to tackle some of today’s deep rooted societal issues.

One of their most outstanding successes has been the founding of Thrive, a unique service for care leavers across the Liverpool City Region. It feels like a coffee shop, but is a safe space for care leavers to connect with the services they need to live happy, safe and fulfilling lives.

Applications will re-open for next year’s round on 6th May 2026.

If you are a business with a great innovative product or service, or running an impressive social mobility programme, this award is a prestigious way to recognise your contribution to enterprise. The King’s Awards for Enterprise are open to applications from almost all businesses of all sizes, in every sector throughout the UK, including those organisations that are “not for profit”.

The Lieutenancy invited businesses to an event at The Athenaeum with presentations from former winners and the KAE team from London, explaining the do’s and don’ts for a successful application. Watch the video below to hear what they had to say.

Further information can be found here.

Download the brochure from the KAE team in London below: