These awards are open to all UK based and international projects, initiatives, products and teams. You may enter more than one category.

Being shortlisted or, better still, winning an IEMA Sustainability Impact Award positions you, your organisation and your projects at the forefront of sustainability. Benefit from:

  • Prestige
  • Profile and publicity
  • Greater support
  • Recognition for the talent of your team, boosting workplace morale
  • Competitive advantage
  • New business

All winners will be featured in extensive coverage of the awards and winning entries in IEMA’s TRANSFORM magazine in print and online.

Please ensure that you read the How to Enter and the Terms and Conditions of Entry sections before completing the relevant category entry.

Form(s): Once completed, the category entry forms should be uploaded during the online entry process.

The word counts are simply a guideline, but please ensure that your entries are as concise as possible by using bullet points if possible.

If you are entering multiple categories please complete the relevant entry form for each, ensuring that you have tailored the entry specifically to each category.

Please ensure you pay particular attention to all compulsory questions, in order for your entry to be accepted for judging.

Start early. The entry form(s) received early will be reviewed by the awards team and will allow us to flag up any further requirements prior to the judging day.

Sell the people/project/product. What is the biggest achievement or unique selling point? Bring out the winning points. Explain what is unique or innovative about your entry, how important it is, or the scale of the challenges that had to be overcome.

Send supporting photos. Photos are invaluable to the submission as they will be used to represent your entry at the awards ceremony and in the winners write up, should your entry be successful. 

Think about which images bring your entry to life. We ask for a minimum of 2, but up to 5 high resolution images may be included in support of your entry.

Each entry will be judged on the information provided in the category entry form and on the financial and company information supplied during the online entry process.

The Judges will be looking for proof that you have produced an award-winning entry.

The judging will aim to recognise organisations who add outstanding value to their business partnerships and relationships.

The entry form will be viewed by the individual Judges assigned to the specific category.

Each entry will be judged on the information provided in the category entry form and on the supporting documents supplied during the online entry process. The entry form which have not been correctly submitted through our online system will be rejected.

There is a two-stage judging process. The Judges will firstly be sent out the entries to review and mark remotely and then the judging panel will meet in June to discuss the entries and select the shortlist and winners.

In the individual categories, shortlisted entrants will be invited to an interview on the judging day. If entering the individual awards, please keep 22 June 2020 free in your diary should you be successful in reaching the shortlist.

After the judging day the shortlist will be published via twitter, online and in TRANSFORM magazine and on the Awards website, and all entrants will be individually contacted. The entry will be judged by a panel of selected Judges. The Judges decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

The IEMA Sustainability Impact Awards are now open for entries. Th entry should be submitted through the online entry system and to make this process as simple as possible we have created a template entry form for each category which can be downloaded from the categories pages. The entry should also include supporting documentation or evidence to supplement the written submission. All supporting information should be culminated into one PDF document for upload.

The entry deadline has now been extended to Thursday 14 May 2020.

Organisation Awards

The fee to enter is £125+VAT per entry per organisation award (categories 1-20).

It has been decided that entries entered after the deadline of 24 April 2020 will not be charged a late fee.

Individual Awards

The Sustainability Leader of the Year and Future Sustainability Leader of the Year have an entry fee of £49+VAT.

There is no entry fee to enter the Best Volunteer Award.

Prices are based on cost per entry.

Please note that there are no refunds available for any entries and unless we have received payment for your entries they will not be passed on to the judges for marking.

The entry must qualify for the period of eligibility as indicated within each category judging criteria.

The written part of the submission must be no longer than five A4 pages (minimum point size 10) and a word count of 1500 words.

IEMA accepts no liability for any inaccurate information contained within the submitted entry as it is the responsibility of the applicant to provide accurate information.

Entrants giving false or misleading information will be excluded from the awards competition. If an award is given and it is subsequently found that the entry information is false or misleading, IEMA reserves the right to withdraw the award.

Please note that all information provided on the entry forms and during the entry process is taken by IEMA and REL in good faith. If any information is subsequently discovered to be false or the recipient is found to have engaged in conduct unbecoming, IEMA/REL reserve the right to cancel the entry and, if after the Awards have been presented and involves a winning entry, to cancel the Award win and publicise reasons to relevant parties. Please note that refunds will not be provided.

IEMA reserves the right to use entry material submitted in published form unless requested by the entrant not to.

Whilst you (or the licensors) continue to own the copyright in all works forming part of your entry, by submitting an entry you consent to our use of submitted photographic works in any publication, whether or not connected to the IEMA Sustainability Impact Awards, and you now waive all moral rights in such photographic works. We may allow third parties (e.g. journalists) to use such works for IEMA purposes. If a third party owns the copyright in such works, you confirm that you have obtained their consent to our use and a waiver of their moral rights for these purposes.

By entering, you agree to a representative attending the awards ceremony, in London on Friday 18 September, where the winners in each category will be announced and presented with a trophy. If no representative is available, IEMA reserve the right to nominate a person to collect the award on your behalf.

Judges reserve the right, without prior consent of the entrants, to move entries to different categories if it is appropriate.

The Judges’ decision on all shortlisted entries and winners is final and no discussion or correspondence will be entered in to. Please also note that due to the high volume of entries received it is not possible to provide individual feedback for entries that are not shortlisted.

Entrants found to be resubmitting the same entry documents as a previous year will be excluded from the entry process. All entries must be completed on the individual category entry form for 2020 and any entry where the details provided are the same as a previous year will be excluded from the entry process. Any entry that include a project/product that has previously been entered must show how this project/product has developed since it was last entered and provide performance data to support this.

By entering and attending the awards ceremony, you acknowledge that the Event or part of it may be filmed by audio, visual, audio-visual or electronic means or photographed, including photographs of individuals or groups of delegates. You agree to permit Redactive, or any third party licensed by Redactive, to use and distribute such footage and photographs, which may feature images of you, in all or any media (including social media) whether now known or hereafter to be invented throughout the world in perpetuity for the purposes of advertising, publicity, reporting and otherwise in relation to the exploitation of such recordings and photographs. Please inform the event organiser in writing prior to the event day by email to [email protected] if you do not wish to be included in any individual or group photographs.

Entry Fees for the Event are correct at the time of publication. Redactive reserves the right to change the Fees at any time but changes will not affect entries which have already been confirmed by Redactive. The Fees (where required) are payable at the same time as You submit your booking form by credit card. The entry fees are as published on the event website. Please note late entries may be charged an additional fee to cover the extra administration necessary to get these sent out to our Judges in good time.

Please note that there are no refunds available for any entry and unless we have received payment for your entry they will not be passed on to the Judges for marking.

The entry fee is based on cost per entry.

By submitting registration details, you agree to allow Redactive to contact you as required for the organisation and administration of the Event. Redactive will comply with our privacy policy in respect of your registration details and other information we hold about you.

Redactive will only contact you for marketing purposes, and will only pass on your contact details to sponsors for marketing purposes, to the extent that you expressly consent to this (for example, by opting in during the registration process).

If you have any questions about these Terms and Conditions of entry, please contact Redactive at our Registered Office address

Entry deadline: Friday 24 April 2020

Extended entry deadline: Thursday 14 May 2020

Shortlist announced: Wednesday 1 July 2020

Awards lunch: Friday 18 September 2020

No, the entry must be submitted online through the ‘Enter Now’ link on the website. If you have problems with our online system, please call Emeliene on 020 7324 2778 or email [email protected]

There is no limit to the number of awards an individual is able to enter. However each entry must be written specifically for the category into which it is entered. Any entry found to be repeated identically across numerous categories are liable to be disqualified.