Meet our amazing team

The Nomination Team can assist with answering any queries that you have regarding a nomination, or the process involved in taking part in one of our award programmes.

Please get in touch with us via email or over the phone if you have any questions - we are happy to help!

Meet The Team

Key Dates

Entries Open:Wednesday 3rd June 2026

Entries Close:Friday 24th July 2026

Winners Announced:October 2026

About the SME Finance Awards

SME News is proud to announce the UK Finance Awards 2026, a programme dedicated to recognising excellence, innovation, and achievement across the nation’s dynamic financial services sector.

From high growth fintech start-ups and specialist advisory firms to established banks, lenders, wealth managers, and insurance providers, these awards celebrate the organisations and professionals shaping the future of finance across the UK.

Championing Progress in UK Financial Services

The UK finance sector remains one of the most influential pillars of the national economy, contributing over £170 billion annually and supporting millions of jobs across the country. As a global financial hub, the UK continues to lead in areas such as banking, asset management, insurance, and fintech innovation.

Looking ahead, the sector is set for continued evolution, driven by digital transformation, regulatory developments, and changing consumer expectations. Sub-sectors such as fintech, digital banking, payments, wealth management, alternative lending, and insurtech are experiencing significant growth, with technology playing an increasingly central role in service delivery.

At the same time, firms must navigate challenges such as economic uncertainty, regulatory complexity, cybersecurity risks, and the need to maintain trust and transparency in a competitive market.

The UK Finance Awards 2026 aim to recognise those rising to these challenges – celebrating organisations and professionals delivering outstanding financial solutions, driving transformation, and supporting economic growth across the UK.

How It Works?

The UK Finance Awards 2026 are judged through SME News’ independent, merit-based research and evaluation process. Each nominee is assessed on key criteria such as innovation, client service, business performance, and overall contribution to the financial services sector.

This ensures that every winner is selected based on genuine achievement and measurable impact, rather than company size or market presence.

What Winners Receive?

Award recipients will receive complimentary inclusion in SME News’ official online awards directory, along with a marketing toolkit to help promote their success.

Optional premium promotional packages are also available, offering editorial features, bespoke digital assets, and extended visibility across SME News’ national platform.

Why Enter?

✅ Showcase your achievements in the financial services sector
✅ Strengthen credibility with clients, partners, and stakeholders
✅ Recognise and reward the hard work of your team
✅ Increase visibility across SME News’ UK-wide audience

✍️ Enter or Nominate

SME News invites you to nominate your organisation – or a deserving team you know – for consideration in the UK Finance Awards 2026 today! Any business based in or operating across the UK, and making a meaningful impact within the financial services field, are encouraged to put themselves forward.

The team at SME News are looking forward to celebrating the individuals and organisations driving the future of finance in the UK.

FAQ's

How long has SME News been in circulation for?

SME News was first launched in 2017 making it one of AI Global Media’s newer publications. SME News is a quarterly magazine circulated to small business leaders and industry professionals who subscribe to receive. The publication seeks to inform, entertain, influence and endorse the start-up and SME business culture in the UK. We aim to achieve this by providing quality editorial and rigorous research utilising a multimedia platform capable of targeting key stakeholders of dedicated advisers, experts and contributors.

SME News is owned by AI Global Media, a UK based publisher which has over 200 issues to its name since 2010.

Where did the nomination come from?

In the interest of nurturing an environment proven to produce a high response rate, we don’t ask nominees to reveal any personal identity. With regards to methodology, we often nominate candidates ourselves and, when it comes to voting, if you didn’t cast a vote through a self-submission, it is likely to have been cast via a colleague or client who has received one of our direct invitations.

One of the main mantras of our awards system is that your ability to succeed is not linked to the number of votes received, meaning your award is presented purely on merit. In the interest of security and fairness, we track unusual behaviour on our website to identify repeat votes and cyber-threats.

What happens if I agree to be shortlisted?

In the interest of focusing our efforts on relevant and eager candidates, we ask all nominees to accept their position on the shortlist giving people complete control in the decision on whether they would like to move forward with the award. Nominees who accept are subject to our scrutiny during the internal vetting procedure and are given the opportunity to present their own data to be considered alongside information collated by our research team. This can take up to 8 weeks for final assessments to be rendered.

Who makes the final decision?

We employ a panel of five professionals to conduct research of our nominees whom collectively hold in excess of 30 years of experience researching business practices. SME News’ research is overseen by Martyn Walters who joined the team in 2015 and holds a master’s in history and experience in coaching, sales and hospitality.

This two-tiered system allows for a neutral mediator which we feel allows a more efficient method when determining individuals and companies most deserving of winning an award and has brought us much success and commendation throughout its use.

Is there a winner’s ceremony/award dinner and if so, when does it take place?

The short answer is, no.

We decided to not focus our efforts on a celebratory event. Despite being an enjoyable occasion, it doesn’t support our group’s philosophy of cost-effective marketing. We follow the belief that optional costs associated with an award are better placed in a year’s worth of online marketing for the winner rather than spending large sums on a ceremonial evening.

Our press announcements are made digitally, online and across our network to enforce our position as digital publishers. We aim to provide you with the tools (both digital and physical) to generate real-world value.

What happens if I am deemed successful?

After you have been notified we enforce a short press embargo while the programme manager will liaise with you to establish your preferred method of coverage. Generally, our coverage takes the form of a digital celebratory magazine, we also offer physical trophies, wall mounted certificates and plaques and digital certificates, web-based advertisements and press releases which can be custom designed for you or your company.

Are there any costs involved?

As mentioned there are no compulsory costs in accepting a nomination or winning an award with SME News. We do offer a variety of paid additional benefits for our winners, but these are completely optional. To demonstrate our commitment to no mandatory fees, all our winners are offered a free of charge promotional package. Our company policy will always remain: regardless of budget, our clients should always be able to garner the full value of the award and our seal of approval. We offer a variety of promotional opportunities to our winners, as we have an extensive network and we know, more than anyone, the wider business benefits from promoting industry awards.

Why does your email domain differ from your website domain?

Because we send a large volume of emails, we separate our campaign email sends from our transactional ones. This structure helps to ensure a prompt and thorough response from one of our diligent team members. The sending email address will always be recognisable but please contact us via the address on this page if you have any concerns.

Methodology

Researching nominees

The SME News team work ardently to identify market leaders, innovators and enterprising start-ups, driving many of the nominations themselves.

We also encourage external nominations via the SME News subscribers, online visitors, social media followers, clients and wider circulation.

Nominating parties are invited to put forward either third-party businesses whom they hold in high regard, or their own organisation.

Shortlisting nominees

All nominees are formally requested to accept their nomination. Should any firm or individual rather decline at this point, they are simply taken out of the running.

Those formally accepting are given the opportunity to submit additional materials in support of their nomination. Although there is no obligation to complete and supply material, we have found that many nominees value this stage, in the process, as much as our research team do.

Evaluating and judging

Our dedicated research team will assess all information presented to them.

The team gather information independently from a variety of publicly accessible sources, which are assessed alongside any material supplied by a nominating party or the nominee themselves.

The research team casts their final judgment, based on various criteria including: client dedication, innovation, business growth, longevity, online reputation, customer feedback and business performance.

Our deserving winners

Once winners are determined, they are personally notified before any public announcement is made, allowing time for any communications throughout the wider business and the coordination of marketing strategies.

Unfortunately, not everyone can be a winner; however, all who take part are encouraged to come back next year.

Once the press embargo is lifted, details of our SME award winners will be made public via the website, award winners’ magazine and subscriber newsletter.

Making the most

We are prepared to offer a range of promotional packages and items to SME award winners, which vary from inclusion in the free-of-charge winners’ directory, to trophies, content in our magazine and on our website.

We encourage all winners to publicly announce their win independently. Announcements via company websites, social media, via publicly released press releases, and through local and national press are all great ways of maximising the exposure which can be gained from such an amazing achievement. If you have need of further advice, on how to gain maximum exposure from your win, please feel free to get in touch. We are happy to assist our clients with their needs.

Finance Awards (2026)

Championing Progress in UK Financial Services

How It Works?

What Winners Receive?

Why Enter?

✍️ Enter or Nominate