Business Matters is pleased to announced that we are the launch media partner of the Rural Business Awards, the national awards programme dedicated to celebrating the entrepreneurs, employers and innovators powering rural Britain.
The partnership will see finalists and winners of the awards featured across Business Matters’ print and digital editions, putting rural enterprise in front of hundreds of thousands of business decision-makers every month, an audience more usually courted by the technology and financial services sectors.
The awards culminate in a ceremony at the National Conference Centre on 4 November 2026, with entries free across all seventeen categories, which range from Rural Business of the Year and Rural Entrepreneur of the Year to the Taste of Rural Britain Award and the Rural Stewardship & Conservation Award. Entries opened this spring and judging will be carried out independently by a panel of rural business owners and sector leaders.
A sector too often overlooked
The scale of the rural economy makes the case for the partnership compelling. According to Defra’s Statistical Digest of Rural England, more than half a million businesses are registered in rural areas, around a fifth of all registered businesses in England, while predominantly rural areas contribute an estimated £315 billion in gross value added to the national economy. Analysis by the House of Lords Library has nonetheless found that rural firms consistently trail their urban counterparts on productivity, connectivity and access to skills.
It is a tension Business Matters knows well. The magazine has long chronicled both the boom in rural entrepreneurship, with more than a quarter of Britain’s microbusinesses now based in the countryside, and the persistent pressures facing the rural economy, from rising costs to policy uncertainty. As contributors to the title have noted, the challenges of setting up a rural business, not least patchy broadband and thin labour markets, remain stubbornly different from those faced by firms in towns and cities.
“At last, an awards platform that treats rural enterprise with the seriousness the City takes for granted,” Paul Jones, Business Matters editor, said of the programme.
What the partnership means for entrants
For entrants, the media partnership carries practical weight. Winners will receive dedicated profile editorial in Business Matters’ print and digital editions, social media coverage across the magazine’s channels and inclusion in its annual awards special, the sort of third-party endorsement that carries currency with customers, investors and lenders long after the trophies have been handed out.
Organisers say the awards were built deliberately for founders, owners and senior leaders rather than industry insiders, with sponsorship opportunities still available for brands looking to reach rural decision-makers at scale.
Entries are open now and free to enter at theruralbusinessawards.co.uk.
