Awards

The Leeds Manufacturing Festival Awards celebrate the people and organisations shaping the future of our region’s manufacturing sector. These awards shine a light on the passion, innovation, and commitment that make manufacturing one of Leeds’ greatest success stories.

Every year, the awards highlight the achievements of apprentices, rising stars, and forward-thinking employers who are championing skills, creating opportunities, and inspiring the next generation to see manufacturing as a dynamic and rewarding career.

Why your nominations matter
Behind every great manufacturer is a story of dedication, creativity, and progress. By nominating someone for a Leeds Manufacturing Festival Award, you’re helping to:

• Celebrate people who make a difference, from those taking their first steps in the industry to those paving the way for others.
• Showcase excellence and innovation, demonstrating the world-class talent and ambition that exists right here in Leeds.
• Highlight employers who invest in people, helping to build a stronger, more resilient sector.
• Inspire future generations, showing young people the incredible opportunities available in manufacturing.

Your nomination not only celebrates achievement but contributes to a collective effort to strengthen the future of manufacturing in Leeds.

Impact of the awards
The Leeds Manufacturing Festival Awards are more than an evening of recognition. They represent the spirit of collaboration and ambition that defines our city’s manufacturing community. When businesses, educators, and industry leaders come together to celebrate people, it creates momentum — inspiring others to get involved and building lasting pride in local industry.

Each year, the awards give a platform to the next generation of manufacturers: the apprentices developing vital skills, the leaders shaping new ideas, and the employers investing in their people. Many past winners have gone on to mentor others, lead teams, and continue their journey in manufacturing — proving that recognition at this level can open doors, raise confidence, and inspire ambition.

“These awards remind us that the strength of manufacturing lies not just in machinery or innovation, but in the people who make it all happen — the next generation who are already shaping the future of Leeds industry.”
— Greg Wright, Deputy Business Editor, The Yorkshire Post 

Awards presentation evening
The annual awards presentation evening is a celebration of and for the whole of the city’s manufacturing community – apprentices, team members, employers, family and friends of those who work in the sector. Last year’s event, hosted by Leeds Beckett University, in the main theatre at it’s stunning Faculty of Arts building and compered by Yorkshire Post deputy business editor Greg Wright, was the biggest yet with more companies represented, more nominees and more awards than ever before. 

Find out more about the awards categories here