All forms of for-profit organizations can apply for the Award, regardless of size, industry and geography. The only prerequisite is that the organization has a corporate office in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which can either be the company headquarters or a branch office.
Non-profit organizations are not eligible to apply for the King Khalid Sustainability Award, but can apply for the King Khalid Non-Profit Excellence Award. However, if a non-profit organization is interested in applying to the Sustainability Award, then a decision about eligibility will be made on a case-by-case basis​

The benefits for Award-nominated participants (candidates or winners) are as follows:

• Participants who have submitted a completed application are provided with a customized Scorecard Report of their sustainability performance. The Scorecard includes:

• Gaps and opportunities for improved practices
• Targeted feedback based on the responses provided by the Participant from the online application and site visit interview.
• Recommendations for improvement including suggested actions and potential benefits

• Participants may take part in the Leading Practices Workshop During this workshop, participants will learn from global sustainability experts and peers about leading and emerging practices in ESG and ways to improve their own practices

• All participants will be invited to the awards distribution Gala held under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.

• Following the Award year, participants may take part in Capacity Building Workshops that are tailored to Level 1 and Level 2 applicants

 
The benefits for Award-winning organizations are as follows:
The winners will be honored at the Award Gala that will be held under the Patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and they will receive appreciation trophies as follows:

• First Place: Golden Trophy
• Second Place: Silver Trophy
• Third Place: Bronze Trophy

 
In addition, winning organizations may receive media coverage through:

• Awards Gala
• King Khalid Foundation website
• The Foundation's social media sites
• Printed and visual media​
  

The application opens in the first quarter of 2023. Participants can find out more about specific application deadlines by following King Khalid Foundation (KKF) on Social media: LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.​

AccountAbility, a global management consulting firm, will conduct the scoring of all applications and monitor the evaluation process. To ensure the credibility and transparency of the Sustainability Award, both KKF and project partner, AccountAbility, provide a robust and comprehensive quality control process. For more information on the evaluation process and phases, please refer to the Applicant Handbook available in the Resource Center.​

The same questionnaire is applicable to all participants. Specific sector-weighting has been developed by the Award team in alignment with the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB), which provides sector-specific standards for material ESGE issues. For example, environmental impacts are more material for a Food and Beverage organization than a Financial Services organization. This approach allows applicants to be rewarded or penalized in alignment with what is considered material in their sector and eliminates any unfair scoring by ensuring applicants are compared to their sector peers. In other words, a bank's performance is scored and compared to other financial services applicants, not to an oil drilling company.​

Level 1 is open to all applicants. The structure consists of a questionnaire with foundational questions that aim to assess essential practices across all areas of ESGE and help applicants build a baseline of their sustainability performance. The questionnaire involves limited evidence submission.​

Level 2 is open to advanced applicants depending on their performance in Level 1. The structure consists of customized, follow-up questions to Level 1 that aim to dive deeper into the organization's practices and assess the outcomes and impacts of the organization's programs, strategies, future goals, and targets. For example, whereas a Level 1 question may ask if the organization engages in actions to build the capacity and skills of suppliers, a Level 2 question may ask the organization to describe these specific actions and their benefits.

Eligibility for Level 2 of the application will be based on Level 1 performance. Applicants will be notified regarding their eligibility for Level 2.​

If your organization does not meet the performance requirements of Level 1 to move on to Level 2, you will receive a Level 1 Scorecard with detailed feedback on your organization’s sustainability practices and recommendations for future improvement. Level 1 applicants will be invited to specific skills building workshops later in the year to deep-dive into some of the topics covered in the Sustainability Award.​

In 2020 the King Khalid Award team made significant investments to improve the Sustainability Award for applicants with updates including alignment to leading international and national Sustainability Standards, streamlined and tiered application structure, application and scorecards customized to industry and company maturity, and greater focus on sustainability governance, strategy and reporting. As such, the existing Core Areas were updated and re-organized to follow the leading internationally recognized framework: ESGE. This framework takes a holistic approach to sustainability and enables the Award to evaluate organizations' practices within Environmental, Social, Governance, and Economic contexts.

Furthermore, this new framework maintains the integrity of the earlier application by building off of existing subcategories and adding new questions where relevant. ​

The King Khalid Award team and AccountAbility have conducted a comprehensive benchmarking assessment to evaluate and strengthen the alignment of the Award to the world's leading sustainability standards, as well as the Kingdom's own standards including: The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), The UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), KSA Vision 2030, and The KSA National Standards for Sustainability Reporting. Aligning the Award to these frameworks brings several benefits, including transforming the Award's global relevance, and advancing the reporting & disclosure preparedness for participating companies. ​

The Award has an 2-year cycle which commences with the online application opening early in Q1, and concluding with The Sustainability Leading Practices Workshop at the end of Q4. The Award Gala normally takes place around November. For further information on the annual process, please refer to the Applicant Handbook available in the Resource Center.​

It is advised to form a team composed of members of the executive management to complete the application form since it will require data from different divisions of the organization. ​

Instructions on how to fill out the application are provided on the Registration page of the application. Detailed handbooks and guides are available in the Resource Center​ of the KKA website. The Award team will also be hosting an Application Support Webinar following the launch of the application. For more details about Webinar dates, follow the KKF Social Media accounts: LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.​

The application form and supporting documents can be provided in either English or Arabic. ​

Uploaded documents should be in .pdf format. However, Microsoft Word documents and JPEG files will also be supported. Weblinks can be also submitted.

Applicants are kindly requested to detail the applicable pages for all supporting references.​

Yes, the portal allows applicants to submit more than one document for each question.​

Applicants from previous years are welcome to participate in this year's Award, as an organization's incentives to participate reach far beyond just winning, and include benefits such as capacity development, knowledge building, and performance measurement over time. Returning applicants can submit their unique ID to have future applications pre-populated with information submitted in previous applications. ​

​​First (1st) place Award winners are excluded from participating in the Award in the next application cycle, to ensure diversity in the top scoring positions. Second and third place winners can participate in the following year with no restrictions.​

Yes, the Award is a self-nomination scheme and applicants complete an online application form.​

No, there is no fee for participating in the Award, or for using the supplementary services throughout the Award cycle.​

Yes, all data and supporting documents provided by an organization through the application process will be kept private and confidential. Furthermore, the results, industry benchmarking, and performance improvement recommendations provided to each participating organization are kept confidential.

A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is available to organizations that have concerns about the confidentiality of their data on the application form. For organizations who want to inquire for an NDA, please contact the Sustainability Award representative at kkasa@kkf.org.sa. ​

If your organization does not have an answer to a particular question, you should select "We do not have a process in place yet", "Not applicable", / we don't do or have this yet", "We do not measure this yet" or another similar option to indicate that your organization is unable to answer the question at this time.
Even if your organization's corporate responsibility efforts are strong in one category but are lacking in another, we strongly encourage you to participate. For example, while an organization may not yet have a formal environmental program in place, they may already have a strong supply chain management structure.
The Award is designed to recognize different types of performance and takes into account the sectoral context. Furthermore, the Award is a great opportunity for organizations to identify improvement areas to help them advance in their sustainability journey. ​

For further definitions and explanations, please refer to the Award Glossary, which is available on the Award's online Resource Center​ click “Key Resources" and then “Key Terms and Definitions". The Award Glossary is also provided within the application questionnaire.

Additionally, an information button is provided next to the questions, with explanations on the concepts pertaining to the question and may include examples on how to answer.

A dedicated text box is provided for optional Additional Comments and can be used to provide any additional information or clarification.​

The application does not have to be completed all at once. Any progress can be saved and the applicant can return to it during the next log-in.​

Yes, the blank application can be downloaded through the "Download Application" button on the Registration page.​

The Award follows a rigorous scoring and quality review process. Please refer to the Conditions and Criteria for further information on the Evaluation. Additionally, a detailed timeline is available on the Award's online Resource Center.

All applicants of the Sustainability Award will be invited to attend the Award Gala.​

After the evaluation is completed and results are announced, all participants will receive a customized Scorecard Report via email, which provides an overview of the organization's performance. ​

All applicants will receive a customized scorecard as a result of participating in the Award. The scorecards contain detailed performance highlights and recommendations for improvement, based on leading practices within the applicant's industry. Level 1 scorecards are designed to help organizations that are beginning their sustainability journey to build capacity and adopt foundational practices, while Level 2 scorecards are designed to guide the more mature organizations to further innovate. ​

Should you have any questions on the application or overall process please contact a Sustainability Award representative (Email: kkasa@kkf.org.sa), or an AccountAbility representative (Email: kkf@accountability.org).​

All applicants are also welcome to attend informational webinars that will include an introduction to the Award structure and guidance for completing the questionnaire. Dates for the webinars will be updated on the Award website and on Social Media.