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Southwest Finalist :: 03/04/2020

The rural business awards have a lengthy and detailed judging process. Entrants are awarded points in 17 different categories, by at least 5 different judges. Then we take an average to determine the final score. There are a total of 20 marks available for each category.

There are three rounds of judging. First the Judges consider all the entries, and score them. From those scores we announce the entries with the highest average scores in each category as finalists. Then a different set of judges will score the finalists, looking a little deeper and more critically into their entries. The results of this round of judging are kept even from the judges themselves until the Awards ceremonies.

Entries to the Rural Business Awards are judged by a panel of external judges, which means that the RBA team are free to help you as much as you need, as we have no impact on the final scores. The judges are always industry leaders, experts either in the business world, the rural sector, or both! Each year the RBA draw a pool of judges from their supporters and sponsors, and a few past winners. In previous years, the judges have included representatives from the Federation of Small Businesses, the Institute of Family Business, Harper Adams University, and the CLA, to name a few!

This all means that the RBAs aren’t a popularity contest, or only looking for the biggest bottom line. Our judging process looks at businesses holistically. It considers an entrant’s history, ethics, rural credentials, branding, customer service, and individuality. The RBA choose judges whose opinions they respect, and hope you do too.

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