See this year’s categories and past Winners below…
Companies, partnerships and organisations may enter multiple categories.
Please see our Top Tips on writing a winning nomination.
Bear in mind that our judges are guided to assess nominations on these lines:
Clear evidence of business/organisation excellence 50%
Quality of Nomination 15%
Civic/Charity/Ecological 15%
Distinctiveness of offering 15%
Testimonials 5%
Click on a category to learn more
Platinum Award
The Platinum Award is given to the crème de la crème, stand-out best category winner on the night chosen by our judges. They’ll be looking for a company that has had demonstrated a stellar year with serious impact on the city. That could be through recruitment, awareness raising activity, contribution to local causes and the community or the economy.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: Exeter Respect Festival
2019 Winner: Royal Albert Memorial Musuem & Art Gallery
2018 Winner: Exeter Mathematics School
2017 Winner: Exeter College Think Apprenticeships
Arts
From crafts, plays, music, paintings, dance and galleries – Arts make the city so unique, benefitting residents and attracting visitors. Tell us what makes your organisation stand out, showcase and share the creativity of Exeter.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020: Exeter Northcott Theatre
2019: Thelma Hulbert Gallery
2018 Joint Winners: The Corn Exchange / The Phoenix
2017 Winner: Wandering Tiger
Bar
From the Big Night Out to a drink after work, bars are an important part of this city. We welcome nominations for this category from cocktail bars, wine bars, craft beer venues and pubs.
Share with the judges what has made the past year successful for your venue, what new initiatives have worked well, how you attract repeat custom from locals and give a memorable experience to visitors.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020: The Oddfellows
2019 Winner: Lloyds Lounge
2018 Winner: The Oddfellows Christmas Bar
2017 Winner: Doctor Ink’s Curiosities
Business Services
The Business Services category is for all companies with a specific B2B offering, selling your goods or services to other businesses. This could be technical support, people-based, catering, a particular item or product-based service. (Please note: there is a separate category for Legal and Financial companies.)
Judges will be looking for demonstrations of the efficiency and effectiveness, repeat business and recommendations, growth and/or positive results in the past year and what makes your service a cut above the rest.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020: #NatWestBoost
2019 Winner: Air Marketing Group
2018 Winner: IT Champion
2017 Winner: Exeter College Think Apprenticeships
Cafe
We want to hear all about the finest cafés, coffee shops, tea shops and delis. Whether great for coffee, cake, brunch, lunch or simply hanging out, what makes your place special?
Share with the judges what has made the past year successful for your venue, what new initiatives have worked well, how you attract repeat custom from locals, and give a memorable experience to visitors.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020: The Daisy Cafè
2019 Winner: Apple Blossom Cafè
2018 Winner: The Daisy Cafè
2017 Winner: Board
Charity
The Charity category is open to all local independent registered charities. Nominate your organisation to showcase your cause and the great contribution it makes locally.
The Judges will not be judging based on the value or personal attachment to a particular cause, but how well the charity serves it. Share fundraising success, what this has meant to your charity and how you have delivered this in the past year.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: Jay’s AIM – Helping Young Hearts
2019 Winner: Balloons (Devon)
2018 Joint Winners: City Community Trust / Force Cancer
2017 Winner: Citizens Advice Exeter
Civic
The Civic Award highlights the contribution of an organisation or company which has improved Exeter this year. Some new initiative which makes our city better or commitment to helping develop others, or notable charitable work. This is open to ANY company in Exeter.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: Exeter Culture – on behalf of the Exeter UNESCO City of Literature Group
2019 Joint Winners: Colab Exeter and Exeter Library
Creative
This category is for any creative organisation from marketing/PR agencies, publishers, web designers, designers, TV film and video companies, photographers and makers – and so-oh much more! We want to hear about your success in the past year, new clients, big contracts or work you’re particularly proud of and how you did it. This city is full of creativity and this is your opportunity to write the best pitch ever…
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: Buddy Creative
2019 Winner: Luminous Show
2018 Winner: Yellow Mouse
2017 Winner: Hilton Barnfield Architects
Education
The Education category is for any teaching establishments (schools, classes, colleges and universities) or education-focused organisations (edtech, coaching, courses).
The Judges will be looking for ways you have achieved success with your students in the past year. Have you taught in an innovative way? Any practises that have been particularly effective? Any ways you have used your educated community to impact Exeter in a bigger way?
Think you could come top of your class? Imagine winning!
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: Sparx
2019 Winner: Cornerstone Academy Trust
2018 Winner: Exeter Mathematics
2017 Winner: Exeter College
Event
From festivals, to community, to sporting, to corporate and all in between, events make a huge impact on the culture of a city – share your event successes and you could win this category. This can be an individual event or a series and the judges are looking for overall impact on attendees, success of the past event and measure of this as well as how well executed it was.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: Exeter Respect Festival
2019 Winner: Exeter Pride
2018 Winner: Exeter City Council – Lost Weekend
2017 Winner: Radio 1’s Big Weekend – Exeter City Council and Teignbridge District Council
Food/Drink Producer
The Food / Drink Producer category recognises and outstanding producer in the local area. With so much to choose from in Exeter and beyond it’s always a popular category, featuring everything from baked goods, to creative tipples and soft drinks, to meats, dairy and everything in between. Let’s celebrate the amazing food and drink the region has to offer.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: Blue Goose Coffee
2019 Winner: Good Game
2018 Winner: Emma’s Bakery
2017 Winner: Powderkeg
Hair & Beauty
The Hair & Beauty category is open to all beauty and hair salons in the area. Tell us about your great successes and client feedback, and you could be an Award winner! For your entry share how your business has thrived in the past year, how you have attracted new clients and retained existing ones – what makes them come back? What makes your offering stand out and why has it worked?
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: The Hair Boutique
2019 Winner: Radiance Medispa
2018 Winner: Five Cedars
2017 Winner: Viva Hair
Health & Wellbeing
This category is for any organisation which helps the community improve its health and wellbeing. This could be anything from nutrition, fitness classes or groups, healthcare, dentists, opticians, doctors, surgeries, health clubs and more! Share your results and successes by nominating in this category.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: Bluebird Care Exeter
2019 Winner: Exeter City Community Trust
2018 Winner: Home Instead
2017 Winner: The Filo Project
Homes & Interiors
The Home & Interiors category is for any business that designs, decorates, furnishes or refurbishes a commercial or private property. Stand-out year, with significant, successful projects..? You could soon be furnished with one of our splendid Awards!
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: Plastic Surgeon Fine Finishers
2019 Winner: Sapphire Spaces
2018 Winner: In Ex Design
2017 Winner: In-toto Kitchens Exeter
Legal & Financial
Calling all solicitors, accountants, banks, lawyers, financial advisors, insurance, legal experts, wealth managers, law firms and more. This category is open to all legal or financial companies in the area, whether supplying services to businesses or consumers.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: Bishop Fleming
2019 Winner: The Exeter
2018 Winner:
2017 Winner: The Family Law Company
Leisure & Tourism
This category is all about enjoyment in the city: venues, accommodation, activities or visitor attractions, whether for tourists, residents or both. The Judges will discuss: How does your offering make Exeter better? How have your visitor statistics improved in the past year? Did visitors have a great time and can you share their feedback?
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: Event Exeter
2019 Winner: Royal Albert Memorial Musuem & Art Gallery
2018 Winner: The Bear Trail
2017 Winner: THE PIG-at Combe
New Business
The New Business category is for absolutely any business which has started in the city after 1 July 2019. Nominate your new business, celebrate your success, raise your profile – and you could win an Award!
The Judges are looking for a business that’s a potential star of tomorrow, what gap in the market does it fill? How have customers responded? What positive indicators have there been in the past 12 months?
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: Pink Moon
2019 Winner: Luminous Show Technology
2018 Winner: Exeter Gin
2017 Winner: The Terrace
Property
If you’re making a big difference to the property sector locally, this one’s for you. From estate agents and letting agents to developers, architects, construction/building companies and surveyors, tell our judges about your success in shaping Exeter’s thriving built environment and how we use it.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Joint Winners: Hilton Barnfield Architects and DHUD & Mi-space UK
2019 Winner: Exeter Science Park
2018 Winner: Clear Property
2017 Winner: Exeter Science Park
People Services
Are people your specialism? Whether recruitment, human resources, developing talent or coaching, if you know what makes people tick and know how to help companies get the very best out of their most important assets, then this is the category for you.
Sponsored by:
Restaurant
With so many excellent local eateries to choose from, what makes your restaurant stand out from the crowd? This award is for establishments from casual eateries to fine dining restaurants and anything in between.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: The Cadeleigh Arms
2019 Winner: MEAT59
2018 Winner: Rendezvous
2017 Joint Winners: Rendezvous / River Exe Cafe
Retailer
This Award is for both offline and online retailers that are based in the city, If your store has had a great year of trading and customer satisfaction, nominate it for a Exeter Living Award which you could soon have to display in your shop window…
Please note: to qualify as Best Retailer, nominees need to have a physical shop presence in the area, though clearly can cite online sales too.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: Momma Trucker Skates
2019 Winner: Nourish of Topsham
2018 Winner: The Grocer on the Green
2017 Winner: St Leonard’s Flowers
Sustainability
The Sustainability Award is open to any Exeter company or organisation which has been demonstrably thoughtful in the year about its approach to sustainability – supply chain, transport, products/services, energy: anything. Do you have a new or enhanced initiative? Which practices make your organisation stand out? How have you been changing your business or organisation?
Sponsored by:
Technology & Innovation
This Award is open to all companies centred on tech and innovation: developers, fintech, biotech, healthtech, app builders, product development, online platforms, designers, tech retailers. Digital focus? Nominate!
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2020 Winner: Sparx
2019 Winner: Degould
2018 Winner: Biosystems Technology
2017 Winner: Custodian Solutions