Winning or being shortlisted for a business award is a fantastic achievement at any time, but during a pandemic it’s a unique triumph, and one that’s more important than ever.

Absent colleagues, cancelled holidays, missed meetings and closed venues means it has been a tough year for businesses up and down the UK. But—after a few hiccups, dodgy broadband connections and cats invading video conference calls—most of us have adjusted to the new, home office-bound way of working.

Something to celebrate

A year of hard work under challenging circumstances deserves recognition. That doesn’t necessarily have to mean a party: simply being shortlisted for something like the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards already means you’re up there with the very best. But winning a trophy and being able to use that triumph in your marketing, or even in something as simple as an email footer is truly something to be proud of.

One of the best things about winning a Lloyds Bank National Business Award is that it benchmarks your organisation against not just your own industry, but against all of UK business. It demonstrates that your team, your product and your performance stand out on a national level—they’ll receive recognition in national media accordingly.

A boost to recruitment and retention

In times like these, keeping hold of the very best, most dedicated staff is as important as ever.

It’s not difficult to imagine that employees are happier and more productive at a company or organisation for which they are proud to work. Awards like the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards instil pride by celebrating success and rewarding a team’s achievements in a tangible way; a trophy is something to boast about and be truly proud of in a way that strong financial results are not.

As a result, winning an award is a fantastic way of reminding them why working at your firm is special and gives your team a sense that their work really contributes towards something big and important. Having a tangible representation—not just a physical trophy, but also everything from column inches to email footers—is an important reminder of the results that hard work and dedication produces.

An awards triumph can also give your recruitment a major boost. Attracting the best and brightest graduates, established industry players on the hunt for new pastures, and the most experienced executives is a competitive game, and being able to advertise your award success—and therefore that your firm is the best in its class—will give you an edge. It communicates that your organisation really is the place to be.

COVID-19 has taught us some important lessons about the reality of work in the internet age, but it has also emphasised how vital our workplace relationships are. Winning an award can bring a team closer together by giving them something tangible to celebrate, something that they’ve all worked towards together over the course of the pandemic.

Winning an award in times like these is so important precisely because it reminds us of the pride we can have in our work, and the real results our work can have. It’s something worth embracing.