The King's Award for Enterprise - Young Founder

Celebrating outstanding businesses led by founders aged 18 between and 30.

This new category shines a spotlight on the next generation of business leaders. The Award is given to the business, but with a recognition focus on the founder – helping raise their profile and build credibility.

Criteria

Who can apply:

any UK business led by a founder aged between 18 and 30 on 6 May 2027
the founder must be actively leading the business during the application period

Applicants must show commercial success or strong growth potential, such as:

over £250,000 turnover, or
over £500,000 in external funding

Applications are assessed across 5 themes:

Fresh Ideas and Creative Thinking – including a short video from the founder.
Driving Growth and Industry Influence.
Leading and Inspiring – long‑term vision and leadership approach.
Strategic Resilience – real examples of challenges overcome.
Customer Value – how feedback shapes improvement.

Why it matters

This category aims to champion young business leaders, raise awareness of entrepreneurship as a career path, and give founders national visibility as they scale.