The Farm Shop & Deli Retailer Awards are FREE to enter. Click on the buttons above to access additional supporting documents and read the handy tips below.

  PREPARATION

Before you begin your entry, please review the questions below along with the scoring criteria. Once you're confident you can provide all the necessary information and supporting evidence, feel free to start your submission. You can return and make changes to your online entry as many times as you like before submitting it.

Judges will be looking for supporting testimonials throughout your entry, from staff, customers, and suppliers. You'll be prompted to include these, along with photos or videos, to help maximise your score.

No matter how large or small your steps may be, or what financial investment you have made, we want to hear about your businesses successes and celebrate the incredible quality of specialist retailers throughout the UK. 

✅ TOP TIP: Our judges are looking for clear, informative answers that help them understand your business and what makes it stand out. To support you, you'll find helpful tips throughout the online entry form, above each question, outlining what our judges are looking for.

This is your chance to showcase your achievements, so we strongly encourage you to take some time to prepare your answers before the submission deadline.

Looking for inspiration? Take a look at the winning entries from previous Retailer of the Year winners here and see how they brought their stories to life.

ENTRY QUESTIONS

To commence your entry, you will be asked to set up an account for the online entry system, including your contact information. Once you have completed that the following steps are required: 

Stage 1 - Express Entry (closes 31 August 2026)

This is a short, streamlined entry to get you started. You’ll need to submit:

• Basic business details (name, address, phone number, region, business type).
• Website and/or social media link (max 10 points)
• A photo of your store front / business.
• Answer a clear question about your business today  (max 20 points)
• Read and accept the Terms and Conditions - then "Complete" your entry.
  

Stage 2 - Full Application (September 2026)

Following the Express Entry, successful applicants will be asked to complete a more in-depth application form. Please provide answers to the following mandatory questions and enter testimonials when prompted: 

• Over the past 12 months, what specific initiatives or projects has your business delivered to support your local community? (max 20 points)
• Over the past 12 months, what specific actions have you taken to develop or improve your sustainability practices across your business? (max 20 points)
• Over the past 12 months, what tangible steps has your business taken to invest in team development and staff wellbeing? (max 15 points)
• Over the past 12 months, how has your business achieved growth? (max 15 points)
• Please tell us anything else you think that the judges should consider when evaluating your entry. Feel free to include testimonials from customers and/or suppliers.
• Once you have completed all of Stage 2 please hit 'Save' and wait for the green 'Success!' message to appear at the top right of the screen - you have now successfully completed your entry!

Upload additional optional images or videos to support your entry - the inclusion of these will give the judges a better understanding of your retail store / business and could contribute towards more points in each section. 

By uploading your image/video you are confirming that you own the images/videos and are giving us permission to publish them. Or that you are licensed to use the images/videos and to licence us to use them without payment of a fee.

Read the Retailer Awards Terms & Conditions here.