How it works.
The judging process
To be considered for an award, all NACFB Member brokers wishing to participate must submit their entries by 5pm on Monday 15th June 2026.
A carefully selected panel of industry experts will then review all entries to determine a shortlist in each award category. The panel will be announced in the coming weeks.
Shortlisted entrants will be notified (under embargo) by email ahead of the public shortlist announcement in late-July. NACFB Patron lenders and Partner suppliers will then be invited to their cast votes for the Member brokers of their choice in each category (where relevant).
The judging panel’s scores will be combined with the votes to determine the winner and highly commended in each category. For full details, please read the entry criteria terms and conditions below.
The winners in each category will be revealed at a ceremony at Lancashire Cricket Club, Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, on the afternoon of Friday 11th September 2026. You can secure your tickets here.
Entry criteria, process, terms & conditions
Entry into the NACFB Commercial Broker Awards 2026 is open to all NACFB Member broker firms only, and their personnel therein.
Each entry must reflect the contribution of Member firms or individuals since June 2025 to the present.
Members can enter as many categories as they deem suitable and enter multiple times in any one category if relevant; however, all entries must be unique.
For each submission, Members have just 300-words through which to convince the judges that they are worthy winners. Additional submitted evidence will not be accepted; however, the judges reserve the right to request more information. Entries must be made using the online submission form.
All entrants must be full NACFB Members in good standing at the point of submission and throughout the judging process. The NACFB reserves the right to disqualify any entrant subject to regulatory action, upheld complaints of significance, or behaviour deemed inconsistent with the Association’s standards.
Entrants must ensure that all claims made within submissions are accurate and can be substantiated if requested. The judges reserve the right to request supporting information to validate any aspect of an entry.
The judging panel is made up of independent industry stakeholders and NACFB Board directors who will be provided with guidance on how to review submissions individually and fairly.
The judging panel will determine the shortlist via a blind review process. To ensure impartiality of judging, entrants names and identifying information will be redacted in all categories except Industry Ambassador of the Year, Industry Specialist of the Year, Rising Star of the Year, Unsung Hero of the Year and awards where individuals have been nominated. Entries will not be judged solely on the size of the brokerage; judges will take other elements into consideration including the impact on the borrower’s business, the broker/lender dynamic, and the ability to get deals over the line.
Judges and the NACFB reserve the right, without prior consent of the entrant, to move entries to different categories if they feel it is more appropriate.
Entries will be assessed against a consistent set of criteria, including relevance to category, impact on the borrower, strength of broker-lender relationships, professionalism, and overall quality of submission.
Judges and participating Patrons/Partners must declare any conflicts of interest. Where a conflict exists, the individual will abstain from scoring or voting on the relevant entry.
All information provided to the judges will be used solely for the purposes of assessing the entries. Potentially sensitive information will not be made public.
Before the shortlist is announced, a panel of NACFB Patron lenders will review the proposed shortlist by entrant name only to check that all entrants are eligible to participate.
Once the shortlist is announced, NACFB Patron lenders and Partner suppliers are invited to vote on the shortlist. To ensure fairness, Patron/Partner firms are limited to five votes each per category.
The winners and the highly commended in each category are determined based on the combined results of the judges’ selections and the Patron/Partner votes.
The judges’ decision is final; no correspondence will be entered into and no reasons given for decisions.
The deadline for all entries is 5pm on Monday 15th June 2026. The NACFB reserves the right to extend the deadline if necessary.
The winners will be announced at the NACFB Commercial Broker Awards ceremony at The Lancashire Cricket Club in Manchester on Friday 11th September 2026.
Winners may state in advertising and promotional material that they have won, but they must state the year the award was won.
Key dates
Free to enter, the NACFB Commercial Broker Awards 2026 is open exclusively to NACFB Member brokers. NACFB Patron lenders and supplier Partners are not eligible to enter but will be invited to vote on the shortlist.
Please note, dates may be subject to change.
Thursday 30th April
Awards open for entries and early bird tickets for NACFB Member brokers only go on sale
Monday 15th June
Entry deadline at 5pm
Late-July
Shortlist announced and voting opens to NACFB Patron lenders and supplier Partners
Late-July
Voting closes
Monday 10th August
Early bird tickets for NACFB Member brokers close at 5pm
Tuesday 11th August
Tickets go on sale to NACFB Patron lenders and supplier Partners (subject to availability)
Friday 11th September
Winners revealed at the awards ceremony which takes place at Lancashire Cricket Club, Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester
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