See this year’s categories and past Winners below…
Companies, partnerships and organisations may enter multiple categories.
Please see our Top Tips on writing a winning nomination.
Bear in mind that our judges are guided to assess nominations on these lines:
- Clear evidence of business/organisation excellence in the period 50%
- Clear evidence of long-term excellence 15%
- Civic/ESG/values 15%
- Quality of Nomination 15%
- Testimonials 5%
Platinum Award
The Platinum Award is given to the crème de la crème, stand-out best category winner on the night chosen by our judges. They’ll be looking for a company that has had demonstrated a stellar year with serious impact on the city. That could be through recruitment, awareness raising activity, contribution to local causes and the community or the economy.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: EX2 Group
2023 Winner: Coastal Recycling
2022 Winner: Bthechange
2021 Winner: Colab Exeter
2020 Winner: Exeter Respect Festival
2019 Winner: Royal Albert Memorial Musuem & Art Gallery
2018 Winner: Exeter Mathematics School
2017 Winner: Exeter College Think Apprenticeships
Arts & Creative
From PR agencies and designers, to galleries and festivals, this category seeks to recognise what makes Exeter unique, benefitting residents and attracting visitors. Tell us what makes your organisation stand out, showcase and share the creativity of the city.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Exeter Library
2023 Winner: Exeter Phoenix
2022 Winner (Arts): Positive Lights Projects
2022 Winner (Creative): Altum Media
2021 Winner (Arts): DanSci Dance Studio
2021 Winner (Creative): Dirty Martini Marketing
2020 Winner (Arts): Exeter Northcott Theatre
2020 Winner (Creative): Buddy Creative
2019 Winner (Arts): Thelma Hulbert Gallery
2019 Winner (Creative): Luminous
2018 Joint Winners (Arts): The Corn Exchange / The Phoenix
2018 (Creative): Yellow Mouse Studios
2017 Winner (Arts): Wandering Tiger
2017 Winner (Creative): Hilton Barnfield Architects
Bar
From the Big Night Out to a drink after work, bars are an important part of this city. We welcome nominations for this category from cocktail bars, wine bars, craft beer venues and pubs.
Share with the judges what has made the past year successful for your venue, what new initiatives have worked well, how you attract repeat custom from locals and give a memorable experience to visitors.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Barnova
2023 Winner: Margoux Restaurant & Wine Bar
2022 Winner: Barnova, The Christmas Market Bars
2021 Joint Winners: On the Waterfront / Pink Moon
2020 Winner: The Oddfellows
2019 Winner: Lloyds Lounge
2018 Winner: The Oddfellows Christmas Bar
2017 Winner: Doctor Ink’s Curiosities
Business Services
The Business Services category is for all companies with a specific B2B offering, selling your goods or services to other businesses. This could be technical support, people-based, catering, a particular item or product-based service. (Please note: there is a separate category for Legal and Financial companies.)
Judges will be looking for demonstrations of the efficiency and effectiveness, repeat business and recommendations, growth and/or positive results in the past year and what makes your service a cut above the rest.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Adopstar
2023 Winner: AB Brand & Marketing Agency
2022 Winner: SETsquared Exeter
2021 Winner: Bluegrass Group
2020 Winner: #NatWestBoost
2019 Winner: Air Marketing Group
2018 Winner: IT Champion
2017 Winner: Exeter College Think Apprenticeships
Charity
The Charity category is open to all local independent registered charities. Nominate your organisation to showcase your cause and the great contribution it makes locally.
The Judges will not be judging based on the value or personal attachment to a particular cause, but how well the charity serves it. Share fundraising success, what this has meant to your charity and how you have delivered this in the past year.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Devon Air Ambulance Trust
2023 Winner: FearLess
2022 Winner: Bthechange
2021 Winner: St Petrock’s
2020 Winner: Jay’s AIM – Helping Young Hearts
2019 Winner: Balloons (Devon)
2018 Joint Winners: City Community Trust / Force Cancer
2017 Winner: Citizens Advice Exeter
Civic
The Civic Award highlights the contribution of an organisation or company which has improved Exeter this year. Some new initiative which makes our city better or commitment to helping develop others, or notable charitable work. This is open to ANY company in Exeter.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Conversation Café by Devon Ukrainian Association
2023 Winner: Exeter Phoenix
2022 Winner: Exeter Works and Youth Hub Devon
2021 Winner: CoLab Exeter
2020 Winner: Exeter Culture – on behalf of the Exeter UNESCO City of Literature Group
2019 Joint Winners: Colab Exeter and Exeter Library
Employer
This Award recognises the best employers in the city – tell us about your staff retention, incentives, development and anything else that makes your company the best in Exeter when it comes to employment.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: AB Brand and Marketing Agency
Event
From festivals, to community, to sporting, to corporate and all in between, events make a huge impact on the culture of a city – share your event successes and you could win this category. This can be an individual event or a series and the judges are looking for overall impact on attendees, success of the past event and measure of this as well as how well executed it was.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Bear Town
2023 Winner: Colour Bomb by The Bear Trail
2022 Winner: Guildfest Family Festival
2021 Winner: Exeter Northcott Theatre with Le Navet Bete
2020 Winner: Exeter Respect Festival
2019 Winner: Exeter Pride
2018 Winner: Exeter City Council – Lost Weekend
2017 Winner: Radio 1’s Big Weekend – Exeter City Council and Teignbridge District Council
Financial
This category is looking for all accountants, banks, financial advisors, insurance experts and more. This category is open to all financial companies in the area, supplying financial services to a broad client base of both businesses or consumers.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Old Mill
2023 Winner: The Mortgage Quarter
2022 Winner: Premier Financial Planning
2021 Joint Winners: The Family Law Company / GX Accountancy
2020 Winner: Bishop Fleming
2019 Winner: The Exeter
2018 Winner:
2017 Winner: The Family Law Company
Hair & Beauty
The Hair & Beauty category is open to all beauty and hair salons in the area. Tell us about your great successes and client feedback, and you could be an Award winner! For your entry share how your business has thrived in the past year, how you have attracted new clients and retained existing ones – what makes them come back? What makes your offering stand out and why has it worked?
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Exthetics
2023 Winner: Male Focus Salon
2022 Winner: Coraline Organic Skincare
2021 Winner: Fika Salon
2020 Winner: The Hair Boutique
2019 Winner: Radiance Medispa
2018 Winner: Five Cedars
2017 Winner: Viva Hair
Health & Wellbeing
This category is for any organisation which helps the community improve its health and wellbeing. This could be anything from nutrition, fitness classes or groups, healthcare, dentists, opticians, doctors, surgeries, health clubs and more! Share your results and successes by nominating in this category.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise
2023 Winner: EPIC Solutions
2022 Winner: Pete’s Dragons
2021 Winner: Bluebird Care Exeter
2020 Winner: Bluebird Care Exeter
2019 Winner: Exeter City Community Trust
2018 Winner: Home Instead
2017 Winner: The Filo Project
Homes & Interiors
The Home & Interiors category is for any business that designs, decorates, furnishes or refurbishes a commercial or private property. Stand-out year, with significant, successful projects..? You could soon be furnished with one of our splendid Awards!
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: System Six Kitchens
2023 Winner: Stovax & Gazco
2022 Winner: Natural Design Studio
2021 Winner: In Ex Design
2020 Winner: Plastic Surgeon Fine Finishers
2019 Winner: Sapphire Spaces
2018 Winner: In Ex Design
2017 Winner: In-toto Kitchens Exeter
Legal
Calling all solicitors, lawyers, legal experts, law firms and more. This category is open to all legal or companies in the city, whether it’s supplying services to businesses or consumers.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Stephens Scown Solicitors
2023 Joint Winners: Community Law Clinic at University of Exeter and Stephens Scown Solicitors
2022 Winner: Premier Financial Planning
2021 Joint Winners: The Family Law Company / GX Accountancy
2020 Winner: Bishop Fleming
2019 Winner: The Exeter
2018 Winner:
2017 Winner: The Family Law Company
Leisure & Tourism
This category is all about enjoyment in the city: venues, accommodation, activities or visitor attractions, whether for tourists, residents or both. The Judges will discuss: How does your offering make Exeter better? How have your visitor statistics improved in the past year? Did visitors have a great time and can you share their feedback?
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Luxury Coastal
2023 Winner: Markets In Exeter
2022 Winner: Bear Town
2021 Winner: The Bear Trail
2020 Winner: Event Exeter
2019 Winner: Royal Albert Memorial Musuem & Art Gallery
2018 Winner: The Bear Trail
2017 Winner: THE PIG-at Combe
New Business
The New Business category is for absolutely any business which has started in the city after 1 July 2022. Nominate your new business, celebrate your success, raise your profile – and you could win an Award!
The Judges are looking for a business that’s a potential star of tomorrow, what gap in the market does it fill? How have customers responded? What positive indicators have there been in the past 12 months?
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Cameron Mills Group
2023 Winner: Butt Estates
2022 Winner: Acuitis Opticians and Hearing Centre
2021 Winner: Life Guitars
2020 Winner: Pink Moon
2019 Winner: Luminous Show Technology
2018 Winner: Exeter Gin
2017 Winner: The Terrace
People Services
Are people your specialism? Whether recruitment, human resources, developing talent or coaching, if you know what makes people tick and know how to help companies get the very best out of their most important assets, then this is the category for you.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Six Degrees
2023 Winner: Avocet Recruitment
2022 Winner: Pi Society
Property
If you’re making a big difference to the property sector locally, this one’s for you. From estate agents and letting agents to developers, architects, construction/building companies and surveyors, tell our judges about your success in shaping Exeter’s thriving built environment and how we use it.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2023 Winner: Vickery Holman
2022 Winner: KTA Architects
2021 Winner: Grenadier
2020 Joint Winners: Hilton Barnfield Architects and DHUD & Mi-space UK
2019 Winner: Exeter Science Park
2018 Winner: Clear Property
2017 Winner: Exeter Science Park
Restaurant
With so many excellent local eateries to choose from, what makes your restaurant stand out from the crowd? This award is for establishments from casual eateries to fine dining restaurants and anything in between.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Exe Restaurant & Bar
2023 Winner: Harry’s Restaurant
2022 Winner: Eat the Bird
2021 Winner: Stage
2020 Winner: The Cadeleigh Arms
2019 Winner: MEAT59
2018 Winner: Rendezvous
2017 Joint Winners: Rendezvous / River Exe Cafe
Retail
This Award is for both offline and online retailers that are based in the city, If your store has had a great year of trading and customer satisfaction, nominate it for a Exeter Living Award which you could soon have to display in your shop window…
Please note: to qualify as Best Retailer, nominees need to have a physical shop presence in the area, though clearly can cite online sales too.
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: Greendale Farm Shop
2023 Winner: Bernaville Nurseries
2022 Winner: Eco Baby Box
2021 Winner: The Recycled Candle Company
2020 Winner: Momma Trucker Skates
2019 Winner: Nourish of Topsham
2018 Winner: The Grocer on the Green
2017 Winner: St Leonard’s Flowers
Sustainability
The Sustainability Award is open to any Exeter company or organisation which has been demonstrably thoughtful in the year about its approach to sustainability – supply chain, transport, products/services, energy: anything. Do you have a new or enhanced initiative? Which practices make your organisation stand out? How have you been changing your business or organisation?
Sponsored by:
Previous Winners
2024 Winner: EX2 Group
2023 Winner: Coastal Recycling
2022 Winner: Ebb Tides Seaweeds