Inaugural Ringwood Business Awards sees surge of entries

The first-ever Ringwood Business Awards has seen a surge of entries in the past week as it nears its deadline.

The awards, which businesses can enter for free in as many categories as they wish, were launched at an event in February and have seen a steady stream of entries since.

Nigel Reeve, Director at Marketing West Events, described the process and principles behind launching the new awards.

“Launching a new business awards takes time,” he said. “These are not like the usual evening awards. They are held at lunchtime and the category winners are the stars of the awards, not the event itself!

“We believe local businesses are the backbone of the local economy and the awards focus on just that.

“Entries and nominations close on Monday, 5th June ’23 which will mean a further surge prior to entries closing.

“Immediately after this the judging starts. The judging system is very simple. Its all done online.

“The judges are briefed but they don’t know who the other judges are. They vote for their top five entries in each category and send back their votes. It’s fed into a spreadsheet and they gives us the winners in each category.

“Then it’s on to the awards ceremony, which will be held at lunchtime on Wednesday, 12th July at The Elm Tree, Hightown, Ringwood BH24 3DY.”

The awards are funded through a range of local and regional sponsors and supporters including Action Coach, NFU Mutual, Dawsongroup Finance, Ellis Jones Solicitors, Hub Accountants, The Workshop and Marketing West Events.