Commercial Broker Awards 2025 opens for submissions
Established to celebrate and showcase broking excellence within the NACFB Member community, the sixth annual NACFB Commercial Broker Awards is now accepting entries.
New award categories
This year, the categories on offer have been reshaped and expanded to better represent brokers of all sizes and specialisms, and include six new awards.
Industry Specialist of the Year celebrates brokers and firms who have become trusted experts within a specific business sector – whether construction, healthcare, transport, agriculture, or beyond – and made themselves indispensable partners to the industries they serve.
The Pioneering Broker Award recognises brokers or firms breaking new ground in the world of intermediary-led finance – whether through technology, new markets, product creativity, or process reimagination – through courageous thinking, leadership, and commitment to shaping progress not only in their own business but also inspiring the wider sector to push boundaries.
Unsung Hero of the Year has been designed to acknowledge non-broking individuals who work quietly, consistently and brilliantly behind the scenes to strengthen their firm’s client outcomes and team culture.
Last but by no means least, three awards have been created to specifically celebrate brokers who champion their national business community. Covering Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, these categories reflect brokers' knowledge of their regional landscape and aim to attract entrants who can demonstrate a clear contribution to their nation’s entrepreneurial growth story.
Commenting on the award categories, NACFB CEO, Jim Higginbotham, said: “To ensure that the categories this year accurately reflect the constantly evolving dynamic of our Members, we invited brokers to participate in a focus group. Their input was both well-considered and inspiring and we are enormously grateful for their contribution. I believe that whichever firms win, all will be delighted with the accolade and the recognition which these awards offer.”
The categories for the NACFB Commercial Broker Awards 2025 are:
Asset & Leasing Finance Broker of the Year (1-3 brokers)
Asset & Leasing Finance Broker of the Year (4+ brokers)
Buy-to-Let Mortgage Broker of the Year (1-3 brokers)
Buy-to-Let Mortgage Broker of the Year (4+ brokers)
Cashflow Finance Broker of the Year (1-3 brokers)
Cashflow Finance Broker of the Year (4+ brokers)
Commercial Mortgage Broker of the Year (1-3 brokers)
Commercial Mortgage Broker of the Year (4+ brokers)
Development Finance Broker of the Year (1-3 brokers)
Development Finance Broker of the Year (4+ brokers)
Invoice Finance Broker of the Year (1-3 brokers)
Invoice Finance Broker of the Year (4+ brokers)
Short-term Finance Broker of the Year (1-3 brokers)
Short-term Finance Broker of the Year (4+ brokers)
Commercial Broker Network of the Year
Industry Ambassador of the Year
Industry Specialist of the Year
Pioneering Broker Award
Rising Star of the Year
Service Excellence Award
Unsung Hero of the Year
Northern Irish Broker of the Year
Scottish Broker of the Year
Welsh Broker of the Year
Full details of each category can be seen here
Entry into each category is completely free of charge and open exclusively to NACFB Member brokers only. The submission deadline is 5pm, Friday 6th June 2025 which gives firms a month to hone their entries.
Organising the event, Becky McGarrity, said: “Members are encouraged to enter as many categories as they deem appropriate. In this respect, we recognise the time and resource it takes to craft submissions, so we purposefully restrict each entry to just 300 words.”
To further support entrants the NACFB has published Five Top Tips for writing a compelling, award-winning entry. Brokers are also welcome to reach out to the membership team should they need help making their selections.
The judging process
This year, a carefully selected panel of experts from respected industry stakeholders and NACFB directors will review the submissions to create a shortlist of brokerages and individuals. Every entry will be reviewed fairly and individually, with the shortlist drawn on merit. Importantly, to maintain impartiality, the judges will review submissions without knowing the entrant names. Further, all NACFB Member board directors have recused themselves from entering this year’s awards. The judging panel will be revealed in the coming weeks.
The shortlist will be revealed in late July at which time NACFB Patron lenders and Partner suppliers will be invited to vote. The results from both cohorts will then be combined to determine the winners and highly commended entries. Entry criteria and full terms and conditions are available on the website.
Awards’ ceremony and tickets
The winners of each award will be revealed and presented with their trophies at an in-person ceremony on the afternoon of Friday 19th September at Lancashire Cricket Club, Manchester.
Early bird tickets are available to NACFB Member brokers only until Monday 18th August, and are priced at £132 +VAT each. Both individual tickets and tables of ten are available for purchase.
From Tuesday 19th August, tickets for Members will increase to £195 +VAT each. Depending on availability, a limited number of tickets will also be made available to NACFB Patron lenders and Partner suppliers, priced at £220 +VAT each.
All tickets include a welcome drink on arrival, a three-course meal, half a bottle of wine per person and entertainment. Full details of the celebration including this year’s host will be revealed later this month.
Sponsorship
The events team is now busy working with the NACFB Patrons and Partners who have kindly agreed to sponsor elements of the awards ceremony. These details will be announced in the coming weeks. A limited number of opportunities remain and those interested are asked to contact the events team for more information.