Judging-Criteria-Booklet

Young Enterprise Company
of the Year Competition
Judging Guidelines and Criteria 2015

Introduction to the Company
of the Year Competition
Young Enterprise
Company of the
Year Competition
Judging Guidelines
and Criteria 2015
The Young Enterprise (YE) Company of the Year Competition
is the annual celebration of the achievements of students and
their companies. It is a tremendous achievement for each group
of students that complete their YE year and proudly present the
results of their company and their learning.
YE companies appear before independent judges who will
take a view as to how well each company performs against
the criteria in this guide, compared to the other companies
competing at the event. Participants will prepare a company
report, produce a trade stand, answer interview questions, and
deliver a short presentation.
The competition is not simply a business competition for young
people. We are attempting to balance a view of the business
achievements of each team as a whole, and the students’
personal development. Therefore, to win an award it is not
simply sufficient just to run a financially successful company
or to have created an exciting product. Company members
must also demonstrate that they understand how and why the
company performed as it did, and that continuous improvement,
application of skills and innovation are all essential to
business success.
The competition starts at a local level with winners progressing
through a series of ‘finals’ at county, regional, then national
and, ultimately, European level. As well as choosing an overall
winning company, the judges present several other awards at
each of these events (e.g. Best Company Report).
While the majority of companies take part in the competition
each year, it is not compulsory. However, we strongly encourage
all companies to enter their local event.
As well as providing an opportunity to showcase and celebrate
achievements, the components of the competition help to enhance,
further develop and consolidate students’ learning, especially
essential business skills such as report writing, corporate promotion,
presentation and public speaking. Every encouragement should
therefore be given to companies to participate.
Videos from last year’s National Final, including a selection of
student presentations can be seen at www.y-e.org.uk and via YE
Online (the extranet used by programme participants).
Images used throughout this guide are taken from the 2014 National Final.
Contents
Introduction to the Company of the Year Competition
Eligibility for the Competition
Calendar
How will Young Enterprise Companies be Judged?
Event Joining Instructions
Award Categories
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xx
xx
xx
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Student Guidance
Company Report
Interviews and Trade Stand
Company Presentation
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Judging Criteria
Judges’ Score Sheet
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YE Company – Learning by Doing
1

Introduction to the Company
of the Year Competition continued
eligibility for the Competition
Calendar
The following is a broad timetable of events. The specific dates
and deadlines for each competition event will be communicated
as far in advance as possible. They often unavoidably coincide
with a particularly busy time of the academic year (for students
and staff) and/or with holidays.
How will YE Companies be judged?
At each level of the competition, a judging panel is made up of
independent members of the business and education communities.
Judging panels should follow the guidelines set out in this
document to select the winning company.
This will ensure that all competing companies are measured
against the same criteria so that no company is disadvantaged.
To be eligible, all companies must have:
a registered with YE and paid the registration fee
b submitted items (company report, presentation file etc.)
in accordance with the event joining instructions
c paid interim taxes
d not exceeded the authorised share capital limit, unless
permission from the Local Board has been applied for and
granted (the company report should highlight why this was
necessary)
e complied with the operating regulations as outlined in the
Legal Responsibilities and Insurance Cover document. In
particular trading instructions, prohibited products list and
rules laid down by YE regarding financial and other support,
grants and donations.
Companies failing to comply with these regulations will be
marked down by judges. Young Enterprise reserves the right
to disqualify any company that has operated dangerously or
outside the law.
Feb/March/April
All companies have the opportunity to attend and take part in
Local Area and/or County Final events
May/June
Regional Finals are held across the UK. The winning company
in each region (or Country in the case of Wales, Scotland,
Northern Ireland and Overseas Territories) is invited to take
part in the UK Final
July
UK Company of the Year Final. Third, second and first place
prizes are awarded. The winning company will represent the
UK in the JA-YE Europe Company of the Year competition
July/August
JA-YE Europe Company of the Year competition. The venue for
the European Final rotates between the member countries of
Junior Achievement/YE Europe.
The judging is undertaken in three stages:
• Company Report
• Interview and Trade Stand
• Presentation
These stages may not always take place in the order indicated. At
each level of the competition there may also be some slight variation
in the judging process, for example the interview could take place
at your trade stand or in a separate room. However, the criteria for
assessing the performance of each company should always be the
same and remain constant throughout the competition.
At each stage of the competition, the judges make an
assessment of the company’s performance against the set criteria
as revealed at that stage and score the company performance.
The scores will be amended (could be up or down) at each
stage as the judges learn more about the company.
Each indicator is given equal weighting of up to 10 points. In
scoring each indicator, judges examine how well the company
performed against that criteria and to what extent company
members have shown that they understand their performance
and the business principles involved.
It is not expected that all criteria will be covered at every stage.
Companies should consider how best to communicate their
performance in each of the criteria across the different judging
stages. For example, the members of one company might give
prominence to the company’s financial performance during
their presentation to strengthen their response to that criterion.
The members of another company may choose to emphasise
the research and development of their product range as a key
element of their presentation.
There is no winning formula. Each Young Enterprise company
is different and must use its own judgement to decide how
best to convey the strengths of its members’ experience and
how to demonstrate the company’s success to the judges,
telling appropriate elements of their unique story through the
competition stages. After the final stage, the judges have the
complete picture and will decide the final scores against each
of the criteria.
The decision of the judging panel is final and YE will not discuss
scores or enter into debate about the result.
Judges will be advised if there are any issues related to the YE
Legal Responsibilities and Insurance Cover guidance which sets
out the parameters in which companies are allowed to operate.
It is against the basic principles of Young Enterprise for groups
to take over and run businesses passed on to them by previous
Young Enterprise companies or other concerns.
Individual students or companies found to be participating for a
second year will not be allowed to take part in the competition
as their extra experience will give them an unfair advantage.
2 YE Company – Learning by Doing
YE Company – Learning by Doing 3

Introduction to the Company
of the Year Competition continued
Event Joining Instructions
At each level of the competition (from Local to European level)
entrants will receive a briefing in advance of the event. Students
are advised to ensure they are familiar with the specific timetable
and instructions for each event. Relevant details will be provided
such as the available awards, report submission requirements,
trade stand sizes, presentation formats etc.
There may be several weeks between rounds in the early stages
of the competition and companies may choose to continue trading
or developing their products – and may choose to update/
enhance their reports, trade stands and presentations accordingly.
Award Categories
As well as the award for the top company, there will often
be different awards for elements of company or individual
performance, so look out for details of these from your local
YE representative. At some events for example, there may be
awards for “Best Report”, “Best Presentation” or “Best Managing
Director”. Where these are awarded, different criteria and/or
judges may be used to that shown in this guide, which evaluates
the company and its overall performance.
Please note that the ability to make changes to the report and/
or presentation is removed as teams progress from Regional to
National and European level, and this is clearly stated in the
briefing provided to the winning team in the preceding round.
The competition team comprises the company members. They are
supported by the Centre Lead (Teacher, Tutor) and the Business
Adviser(s). Please note that the number of students, Centre Leads
and Business Advisers participating in the competition team may
be restricted at some events, in particular the later stages such as
the National and European finals. Details regarding the make up
of the competition team will be outlined in the briefing for each
event and must be adhered to. Any additional company members
may be able to attend as guests.
Each competition team will need to select up to 5 students to
deliver the presentation. This includes a visual aids operator
if required.
Due to venue capacities, there is unfortunately sometimes a
restriction on the number of guests that are able to attend the
competition events, especially at a UK and European level.
Please consult the event briefing at each stage, as we cannot
automatically guarantee that there will be the same number of
places at each level in the competition.
4 YE Company – Learning by Doing
YE Company – Learning by Doing 5

Guidance for Students
Stage 1: Company Report
The Company Report is the opportunity to summarise your team’s
year in business. It is an important record of what you have
achieved and will be helpful to you in the future as evidence of
your achievement.
To help the competition judging process, below is a list of the rules
you must follow and some guidelines on what you could include. It
is important to note that the judging panel may mark the company
down should the report not comply with these rules.
Rules
The report must be written by the company members and must
be original and innovative in approach, not based on a template
from previous years.
At each stage of the competition the organisers will advise
whether the report should be submitted electronically (for
example as a PDF) or in single or multiple hard copies. If a single
hard copy is requested for submission this should be in a format
that easily allows for duplicate copies to be made.
A maximum of 10 sides of A4 – no additional appendices allowed
Body copy size to be 11 point minimum
Page 1 must begin with a contents list and also contain an
executive summary to include:
• Company name
• Mission statement
• Product/service
• Summary of financial results
• Summary statement of company performance
Company accounts - verified and signed by your Adviser.
The company accounts must be prepared to the company
liquidation date, showing YE VAT and YE Corporation Tax paid
and include the final balance sheet and profit & loss account.
Or: If your company is still trading, an interim report which must
show provision for YE VAT and YE Corporation Tax and include
balance sheet and profit & loss account to date.
Guidance
The report should cover all aspects of the company performance
and should read as one business-like document, not as a series
of repetitive directors’ reports. The report should demonstrate the
company’s development through problem solving and innovation
and should highlight the company’s achievements.
A recommended approach is to ask each director to write a
brief report of his/her activities and then for one director to draw
the information together into one comprehensive document. You
should consider including:
• A review of the students’ development as individuals and as
a team
• An illustration of the company membership and structure
• Details of any special activities such as exporting, attending
European Trade Fairs or visiting companies for training
• Photographs of the product/service or business processes.
Cover – the cover is in addition to the permitted 10 pages.
It must include:
• Company name
• Centre name (School/College) and Centre Lead (Teacher/
Tutor) name
• Advisers and their companies
• Young Enterprise Area Board
• Whether interim or final accounts
6 YE Company – Learning by Doing
YE Company – Learning by Doing 7

Guidance for Students continued
Stage 2: Interviews and Trade Stand
Stage 3: Company Presentation
Trade Stand
The Trade Stand contents (excluding any provided shell system)
must have been produced and funded by the company.
Stands must show the following:
• Name of the Company
• Name of the Centre (School/College)
• Advisers and their companies
• Young Enterprise Board
• Product/service presented, as if at a Trade Fair
Interview(s)
All members of the company participating in the competition
team (excluding the Centre Lead and Business Adviser) should
be available for interview.
The company may be interviewed at the trade stand, in a
separate room, or both. The judges may question company
members on any aspect of their business in order to gain further
understanding of its performance against the criteria and the
knowledge of the company’s members.
• Maximum presentation time – four minutes (this is
recommended for all stages of the competition but may
differ in the earlier stages depending on local circumstances)
• Style – business like but not necessarily to exclude the use
of humour
• The presentation team must not exceed five company
members in total (including a visual aids operator if required)
• The presentation should summarise the key experiences and
achievements of the company. Try to bring the highs and lows
of your year to life for the audience. How you have learned
from your mistakes is as important as your achievements
• Verbal presentations should be supported with an electronic
presentation. If this is using software other than PowerPoint
(e.g. Prezi) then the company should check with the event
organisers that it can be accommodated
• Companies should be careful not to assume that later stages
of the competition can accommodate a software package
just because an earlier stage could
• Video clips, animations and music may be incorporated into
the presentation but use of them will not automatically result in
additional credit
• Highlights of sales and financial performance.
Judges may visit the Trade Stand as a team or individually.
• Visual aids must be produced and paid for by the
Young Enterprise company itself and be identifiable
in the company accounts
8 YE Company – Learning by Doing
YE Company – Learning by Doing 9

Judging Criteria
In all criteria, judges will be looking for innovative approaches
to meeting the challenges of running a company. They will be
looking for flair, creativity and enthusiasm at each stage of the
judging process. They will also be seeking to identify the impact
of the ‘learning by doing’ experience.
1 Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• To what extent is innovation built into the
company’s ethos?
• In what ways did the company encourage the
practice of continuously innovating new ideas i.e.
suggestions, recommendations which add value
to the company’s operations?
• Has there been evolution of the company throughout
the year?
• Would this business be sustainable in the real world?
• Did the company demonstrate entrepreneurship
and innovation?
2 Marketing
• Did the company carry out market research, understand
what it told them and respond appropriately to the
information gathered?
• What elements did the company consider in developing
its marketing plan?
• How did the company respond to the customers’ reaction
to their product/service?
• Do the company members have brand awareness –
have they built a brand and is there continuity?
• What marketing, sales and promotional techniques were
employed and how effective were they in maximising sales?
3 Selling and Customer focus
• Is the company customer-focused?
• Did the company broaden its customer base outside
the immediate school/family environment and sell their
product/service externally?
• Do company members understand why their product/
service was a success?
• Where and how did the company sell their product or
service?
• Do company members convey the qualities of their
product and have an enthusiastic approach to promotion
via their trade stand and presentation?
• Is the product itself innovative in any respect?
• Has the product or service been developed in
any innovative ways?
• Did the company take advantage of new
market opportunities?
• What customer service techniques did the company
develop?
• Did the company use any innovative sales techniques?
• Was the product/service marketed in any innovative ways?
• If a product was bought and sold on, was added
value created?
4 Product/Service development
• How did company members choose their products/
services?
• To what extent did, and at what stage were, customer
needs assessed?
• How was the product/service designed and were there
any technical or manufacturing challenges to be overcome?
• Does the product/service add value to a customer need?
• Did the product/service evolve? Were there product
enhancements? Did company members understand why
and what outcomes were achieved?
• How did they improve their processes, reduce their costs,
comply with regulatory requirements?
• Did the company manufacture the product themselves or
did they outsource to external suppliers? What processes
did they use and why?
• How were quality standards maintained?
• Was IT used appropriately to support product development?
5 Financial Performance
• What consideration was given to pricing and profit
margin(s)?
• Did the company make an acceptable profit against
the background of the company’s product/service and
circumstances?
• Has the company paid or made provision for the
payment of Young Enterprise VAT and Young Enterprise
Corporation Tax?
• Do all company members understand their financial
performance and concepts such as cash flow, profit and
loss, balance sheet etc.?
• Were any activities taken to control/improve financial
performance?
• Was there good financial control?
• How was the company’s financial performance reported
to company members?
• Has the company paid a wage/salary to its staff or have
they worked pro-bono in delivering the reported profit?
6 Teamwork and Communications
• How did company members keep everyone motivated
and did they convey a strong sense of team spirit?
• How well did the company work as a team?
• Was there clear leadership?
• Did company members understand their roles and the
inter-relationships between roles?
• How were leadership skills developed?
• How did the company communicate and how effective
were communications?
• Did the company change/improve communications?
• Do company members understand that effective lines of
communication travel up from the ‘workforce’ as well as
down from ‘management’?
• Did company members keep their shareholders informed?
7 Objective Setting, Planning/Review
and Problem Solving
• Did the company have a clear business plan with a
documented mission and objectives?
• Were objectives regularly reviewed and updated?
• Do company members understand why clear objectives
are important?
• Is there ownership of the mission, are there shared
values?
• What was the greatest problem company members
encountered in producing their product/delivering their
service and how did they tackle the problem?
• How did company members apply and check the
effectiveness of their solutions?
• Did company members learn from their problems?
• Were any personnel problems encountered and how
were they resolved?
10 YE Company – Learning by Doing
YE Company – Learning by Doing 11

Judging Criteria continued
8 Skills and Understanding
• How well did all members of the company build their
understanding and knowledge of business systems and
how the functions interact, e.g. finance, manufacturing,
sales, marketing, administration, etc.?
• Do individual function directors and team members
demonstrate a good knowledge of their sphere of
activity and do they convey understanding, enthusiasm
and commitment?
• Were any new skills or technical processes involved in
designing, manufacturing or marketing the product or
service, or in other aspects of the Company’s activity?
• How did the ‘learning by doing’ process impact
company members’ understanding?
• Did the company members demonstrate discovery of their
strengths and weaknesses around YE’s 8 employability
competencies? (Teamwork, Communication, Resilience,
Problem solving, Entrepreneurial ability, Organisation,
Financial capability, Confidence).
10 Company Administration
• Did the company produce a business plan?
• How did company members allocate people to roles?
Did this process change over the life of the company?
• Did the company consider remuneration, disciplinary
procedures, training and health and safety issues?
• How was the company structured and was the structure
changed in response to difficulties encountered?
• Did the company have an effective system to manage
and record its activities?
• Was IT used appropriately to support
company administration?
• Do company members understand the importance of
effective administration?
• Did they have to tackle any legal issues relating to their
activities, e.g. copyright, insurance on import/export?
• Do company members understand their responsibility
to shareholders?
9 Social, Ethical and Environmental
• Did the company take an approach to social, ethical
and environmental issues and how is this documented?
• Did company members understand their links with the
community in which they operate?
• Did the company measure, manage and communicate
any social-responsibility activity?
• If the company ran as a Social Enterprise how successful
was it in achieving its aims?
• Did the company concentrate on a social issue and align
all its internal and external resources with this issue?
• Did the company work in partnership with any other
organisations when addressing social-responsibility issues?
The judging of the companies is undertaken in stages
against each of the criteria. Each indicator is given equal
weighting of up to 10 points. The three stages are the
company report, their interview and trade stand; and their
presentation. These stages may not always take place in
the order indicated.
Judges make an assessment of the company’s performance
against the criteria and to what extent company members
have shown that they understand their performance and the
business principles involved. After each stage, the scores
will be amended (could be up or down) as the judges learn
more about the company.
Scores are for judges’ use only, to record their impressions
and guide their decision-making. It is not intended that
simple scoring should be used to make the judging
decision. Scoring enables the judging panel to settle
quickly on a shortlist of potential winning companies. The
final decision on award winners should be made by judges
in discussion, to reach consensus and agreement. Scores
should never be revealed to participants or anyone outside
the judging panel.
Judges’ Score Sheet
Company Name
Stage 3:
Interview & Trade Stand OR Presentation
Delete as appropriate
Stage 2:
Interview & Trade Stand OR Presentation
Delete as appropriate
Stage 1:
Company Report
Max.
Points
Indicators
(see pages 10 to 12)
Comment Final Score
Comment Initial Score Comment Amended
Score
10
1 Innovation and
Entrepreneurship
2 Marketing 10
10
3 Selling and
Customer Focus
10
4 Product/Service
Development
10
5 Financial
Performance
10
6 Teamwork and
Communications
10
7 Objective Setting,
Planning/Review
and Problem Solving
10
8 Skills and
Understanding
10
9 Social, Ethical
and Environmental
10
10 Company
Administration
Total 100 Initial Total Amended Score Final Score
12 YE Company – Learning by Doing

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