Awards

Newspad Awards 2024

Submissions deadline extended for the 2024 Newspad All-Employee Share Plan Awards.

The newspad awards recognise the achievements of companies which offer employee share plans and hold up best practice models for other companies to follow. Companies can nominate themselves or advisers can make submissions on behalf of clients. The deadline for nominations is 17:00 on Friday, 24 January 2025.

If you have any questions, please contact us at esop@esopcentre.com or call +44 (0)20 7562 0586.

The award categories this year are:

1. Best all-employee share plan
2. Best share plan communications
3. Best use of technology, AI or behavioural science in employee share plans
4. Best share plan response to significant changes or challenges

Application process

To submit an application for the newspad all-employee share plan awards, please complete both of the following stages:

1. Online application form - complete all sections of the online form, providing as much detail as possible. (Alternatively, entries can be made by one or two explanatory documents)
2. Supporting documentation - where appropriate, please back up your application with supporting documentation. Either upload the files at the end of the form, or email them to esop@esopcentre.com. (Please note: If you’re including a video, please ensure that this is hyperlinked within a document and not embedded or uploaded as a video file).

Please read the rules and terms of entry below.

The winners will be decided by two impartial judges, experts in the use of employee equities, plus Malcolm Hurlston CBE, founder of the Esop Centre. The finalists will be announced in newspad and award certificates will be presented during the Centre’s Employee Share Plans Symposium 2025.

If you have any questions, please contact us at esop@esopcentre.com or call +44 (0)20 7562 0586.

Rules

1. A plan issuer company can nominate itself for an award.
2. A practitioner can nominate a client company for an award provided permission has been received from the client company. The practitioner must be a member of the Esop Centre but the nominated client may be a non-member.
3. A practitioner can nominate a different client company for each award, or the same company for more than one award.
4. A plan issuer company can nominate itself for more than one award.
5. Judges and their companies or clients are not eligible to apply for any award.
6. Entries can be made using the online entry form or by one or two explanatory documents. Submissions should be accompanied by supporting documentation (please see the online entry form for further details).
7. Entrants should be prepared to co-operate fully with the judges or their representatives, where necessary, in response to enquiries seeking additional information from short-listed entrants.
8. The decision of the judges is final.
9. Commercial sensitivity will be respected.
10. No charge is made for entries.

category descriptions:

Best all-employee share plan

All-employee share plans help spread the wages of capital and boost company productivity and can be a particularly effective way for a large, or multinational company to bring together a diverse workforce to help achieve key corporate goals. Employee engagement can be vital to a small or fledgling businesses too and employee share plans give employees a stake in the company. Applications to this award category will be judged on how successfully the share plan meets the company’s objectives, for example: in inclusivity within the workforce as a whole; or in light of the complexities of cross-border arrangements; or in how the share scheme has been used to benefit employee and business alike.

Best share plan communications
Communication is key to the success or failure of an all-employee share scheme. This award category highlights the need for communications programmes that are sensitive to the circumstances of an individual company and the make up of its workforce.

Best use of technology, AI or behavioural science
Without effective technological solutions, all-employee share plans would be prohibitively expensive and time consuming for many companies. This award category recognises innovative uses of technology to manage, communicate and administer share schemes in a fast changing world.

Best share plan response to significant changes or challenging situations
Since 2020, the pandemic, global crises, rising inflation and the cost of living have brought many challenges to business, not least of which is the change to working life and finances. All-employee share plans can play a key part in rising to such challenges by contributing to employees’ savings, morale and engagement. This award is designed to recognise ingenuity in either adapting a share plan or creating a special plan to fit the rapidly shifting landscape or help alleviate some of the pressures that arise from extraordinary situations.

Previous winners