Among the winners in the former division is Derby-based PXtech, which has continuously improvement exports over the past six years. Established in 1999, export sales have increased consistently and overseas earnings growth is 1,633 per cent.

The Queen's Awards – awarded on the monarch's birthday – are widely regarded as the highest accolade for business success.

The other winners in the international trade category were Corby-based Cambridge Manufacturing Company; Central Systems & Automation, based in Leicester; Coalville manufacturer Crusher Manganese Steels; Nottingham-based Douglas Gill International; Brackley-based steel furniture manufacturer Dura.

Other winners included Filtration Control in Northampton; Loughborough-based Morningside Pharmaceuticals; electronic component manufacturer Rakon UK, based in Lincoln; Beeston-based SMS Electronics; and TTS Group, based in Kirkby-in-Ashfield.

PXtech provides information technology services which allow remote monitoring of key performance indicators, sale, and financial controls, enabling clients live access to their information from any internet location.

Managing director Richard Dorf said: "We are truly honoured to have won such a prestigious accolade and to be recognised by the Queen's Award in this Diamond Jubilee year makes it even more special.

"As a company we have achieved strong growth by actively engaging and investing in foreign markets, a strategy which has helped PXtech to become a truly global operator. We now work with household names all over the world, serving more than 25,000 business locations in more than 50 countries – figures which are continuing to rise at a rapid rate."

Douglas Gill International, which was established in 1975, designs, develops and manufactures technical marine clothing for the sailing and marine industries under its own brand Gill. It has recorded growth of 52 per cent in overseas earnings in the past three years.

"It is the result of many years hard work, growing the business and reinvesting for the future," founder and chairman Nick Gill said.

"We have built a reputation as the technical brand. Twenty-five per cent of the company works in product design and development and the quality and innovation of the product range has contributed enormously to the success of the business. Additionally we have stuck to our core business and have not been distracted."

Based in Corby's Weldon North Industrial Estate, Cambridge Manufacturing Company wins the award for the first time for its "outstanding achievement" in overseas earnings growth with year-on-year increases in export sales calculated at 119 per cent since 2008.

Managing director Eileen Skinner said: "The growth in our export sales since 2008 has been built around a very successful UK business model that encourages and empowers individuals to be entrepreneurial. In partnership with our distributors around the world we have taken this model and successfully exported it to many international markets."

In the Queen's Awards for Innovation category, the East Midlands had two winners: Mansfield-based BPR Medical; and Northampton-based Infrared Integrated Systems.

BPR Medical won the Innovation Award for developing FireSafe, a patented device for preventing the spread of fires in the vicinity of medical equipment involving oxygen. Infrared Integrated Systems scooped the prize for developing and manufacturing queue management systems.