Kirsty's Business Awards Blog

2012 Awards launch....

kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:56:00 GMT

Well it is that time of year already and the team here at Archant are gearing up for the launch of all three of our Cambridgeshire business awards. The Fenland Awards are the first to launch with the website now live to get your entries in. Remember to check out the top tips on putting an entry together as this can be invaluable when it comes to those all important criteria. It certainly doesn't seem that long ago that we were celebrating the 2011 awards at the Braza club in March and I am happy to say we are returning to this venue once again in 2012. The team are on hand to help with any questions you may have with regards to entering the awards so please do get in touch. I also want to hear of any news that is happening in local business so please do email me with any great stories and I will profile them here in the blog. So as I say the Fenland Enterprise Business Awards are now live, The Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business Awards are launching this week closely followed by the Ely Standard East Cambridgeshire Business awards. We look forward to seeing the entires flooding in and hearing about the best practice and innovation that is happening within our region. Good Luck.

Where has the time gone.....?

kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:06:00 GMT

I can’t believe how far we have come this year already! Not only have we finished all the judging for the Fenland Enterprise Business Awards and The Ely Standard East Cambridgeshire Business Awards, we have also completed the shortlisting for The Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business Awards.

The Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business Awards saw a large number of entries beating the previous two years, which meant our poor judges spent hours deliberating and deciding who the shortlist will be, and I have to say we have got some brilliant finalists. We have some old faces and some new faces this year and I think it is going to be a great competition!

By the end of October we will have completed three out of the four Cambridgeshire events, including The Hunts Post Food & Drink Awards, which is also open for entry. I have to say this year has just flown by and can't believe we are in September with FEBA just three weeks away!

At the moment it is pretty calm in the Events corner, we have sold out for both FEBA and our Ely Standard East Cambridgeshire Business Awards so I am sure both will be great evenings celebrating all that is fantastic in business in their regions!

I look forward to meeting all our finalists and putting the many voices to faces and getting to hear again the fantastic stories behind these businesses.

See you there!

Kirsty

Are you the best employer in Huntingdonshire?

kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:20:00 GMT

The deadline is nearly here for The Hunts Post, Huntingdonshire Business Awards which means you have only two whole days to get your entry to us buy Friday 2nd September 5pm! We are still taking entries until our deadline and how about entering Employer of the Year? If you can answer the below criteria, you should be getting this on an entry form and sent to us by Friday 5pm!

Employer of the Year

Outline of Business
Details of staff numbers and type of jobs people do
Do you have an induction programme?
What incentives or benefits do you provide your staff?
In what ways do the staff and business communicate which each other?
How do you measure staff performance and its influence on the business?

So if you have answered yes to all of the above and in only 500 words, then go to our website www.huntsbusinessawards.co.uk and get your entry to us - did I mention it was completely FREE to enter? No? Well it is COMPLETELY FREE so there is definitely no excuse!

If you have any questions at all please feel free to give us a call on 01438 866023!

Tickets and entries please!

kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:54:00 GMT

We are now getting closer and closer to the first Business Awards event, taking place in Fenland on 7th October, two months away! And after my meeting with our caterer Tony, we have come up with two lovely menus which means........tickets are now on sale for both the Fenland Enterprise Business Awards and Ely Standard East Cambridgeshire Business Awards. As you can imagine, space is extremely limited at both events so if you would like tickets please feel free to contact me on 01438 866071 or email kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk

Something very exciting is happening in Huntingdonshire, we are running a very special competition running alongside our business awards. All you need to do to win a skyscraper or banner on this site for a whole year is to enter into The Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business Awards. Every Friday we will be doing a draw from all the entries received that week (Saturday-Friday 5pm) and the winner gets to choose either a banner or a skyscraper that we will then get designed by our in-house designers.

So you have to be in it to win it! Make sure you go to www.huntsbusinessawards.co.uk and submit your entry!

Long time no blog.......

kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:21:00 GMT

I am so sorry for not being on top of my blogging this month it has been rather busy in the world of Archant's Business Awards the past few weeks where do I start?

We are now in the visit judging stage for both the Fenland Enterprise Business Awards and the Ely Standard East Cambridgeshire Business Awards. I have to say the judges found it very hard to shortlist for both events and personally I feel we have a great competition this year! I would also like to take this time to thank everyone who took the time to enter this year as I know everyone is very busy running their businesses.

We are still accepting entries for The Hunts Post, Huntingdonshire Business Awards and I know the deadline is in September but its best to get it in to ASAP so you don't need to fret about the deadline getting too close and you running out of time! To enter The Hunts Post Business Awards go to www.huntsbusinessawards.co.uk and enter online!

Crocodiles, Pigs, Water Buffalo and Networking

kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 09:51:00 GMT

What can I say... yesterday's Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business Awards launch was - FANTASTIC!

Andy & Tracey Johnsons treated our guests to a tour of their farm which included visits to the crocodile enclosure, the new piglets that arrived only yesterday and many many more wonderful animals they have on their farm. We ended the tour with a visit to their farm shop where many of our guests purchased some of the goodies Johnson's has to offer.

The event heard from three speakers; our very own Paul Richardson, Editorial Director for Archant and Sarah Scott the Event Organiser for The Hunts Post Business Awards and finally Andy Johnson the owner of Johnsons of Old Hurst who gave us a brief history of how they came to be.

We had guests from our sponsors, judges, previous winners who were looking to enter again and some new faces who were looking to enter for the first time. They found this event helped them decided which category to go for as well as learn about the judging process.

The evening was rounded off by a buffet supplied by and sourced from Johnsons, which I have to admit, many of our guests (including myself) took home doggy bags!

The deadline for The Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business Awards is September 2nd at 5pm to enter online go to www.huntsbusinessawards.co.uk @huntsbizawards

Happy Monday everyone!

kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:50:00 GMT

Good afternoon everyone,

Well, I am back from my holiday to plenty of emails and masses of entries for our Business Awards. We have two deadlines coming up, the Fenland Enterprise Business Awards deadlines THIS Thursday at 5pm and The Ely Standard East Cambridgeshire Business Awards deadline next week. I can't believe we are already at deadline stage and will soon have our shortlist for both awards - watch this space!

This Thursday is our networking event for The Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business Awards; make sure you have your name down for this event as we will be holding it Johnsons of Old Hurst. You will be treated to three keynote speakers, a tour of the fantastic facilities which include the large African crocodiles, after the tour will be a buffet supplied by Johnsons, one not to miss.

If you would like to attend please RSVP to Dawn Nicholls on dawn.nicholls@archant.co.uk

Don't forget you have until Thursday 30th for Fenland Enterprise Business Awards so make sure you get your entry in, you have to be in it to win it!! Go to www.fenlandbusinessawards.co.uk

Networking - with a bite!

kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:12:00 GMT

This is the time I tell you all that I am going on holiday for two whole weeks - I can already hear the 'that's not fair' and 'don't rub it in'. But in my defence it has been a very busy two weeks making sure everything was ready before I go. I had to make sure all our e-shots were ready (all 18 of them) and all the adverts and other organisational things were done, so I hope that has evoked a bit of sympathy?

We are now in the throngs of organising a networking event in Huntingdonshire, for our Hunts Post Business Awards, and to make sure its an event to remember as we are holding it at Johnsons of Old Hurst, where our delegates will be able to watch the African Crocodiles being fed enjoy a tour round the farm and be treated to locally sourced canapes - so local in fact that the meat will be provided from Johnsons' very own farm. This networking event takes place on June 30th from 4:30pm and is free. If you wish to attend please feel free contact my colleague Dawn Nicholls on 01438 866251.

I hope you have a great two weeks and I promise I will be thinking of everything Business Awards while I am away!

The sun is shining and its Friday!

kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:43:00 GMT

The sun is shining and its very warm outside, what a great way to end the week. Yesterday we saw the launch of the Hertfordshire Business Awards at Specialist Cars in Stevenage. We had over 70 people attend the presentations and the guests enjoyed a tour of the fantastic facilities Specialist Cars have to offer. That now means entries are open to this year's awards and myself and Sarah are looking forward to seeing the entries flood in. www.hertsbusinessawards.co.uk

Today saw the Green Awards attending the UN Environment day exhibition at the Galleria in Hatfield organised by Environmental Population. There you could see Box instead of Bottle for office water, solar energy and many more environmentally friendly stands. As a sustainably conscience company we ensured all our posters were printed on recycled paper and even cracked open our special ISO4001 paper!!

Don’t forget to follow us on twitter, Facebook and Linked in for any of our business awards @elybizawards @fenlandbizaward @hertsbusiness @huntsbizawards and if you want to be added to our eshot database please feel free to email me kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine!

Friendly Rivalry - I lay down the gauntlet

kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:12:00 GMT

Happy Tuesday everyone, I hope you all had a great bank holiday weekend - I know I surely did. The weekend was started by a fantastic response to our Hertfordshire Business Award launch taking place on June 2nd at Specialist Cars with over 100 people confirming their attendance.

We are now well in to the swing of our awards season with nearly all our larger events launched and entries pouring in. The Ely Standard Business awards is doing fantastically well with entries so, I lay the challenge at Fenland and Huntingdonshire's door, if you want to beat East Cambridgeshire you best get your skates on and get entering at the Fenland Business Awards site http://bit.ly/kpiG1R or the Hunts Post Business Awards site http://bit.ly/jtgiGu I look forward to seeing them flood in.

Kirst

Hump Day!!

kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk — Wed, 25 May 2011 16:14:00 GMT

I have to admit I love Hump Day, it means we are all just that little bit closer to the weekend! We are launching our Hertfordshire Business Awards next week, at Specialist Cars in Stevenage on Thursday 2nd June from 4:30pm and we do still have a little bit of space left after a recording breaking response.

These awards are for all businesses in Hertfordshire, whether they are a small one man band or an international brand there is a category for you. We hold the Hertfordshire Business Awards in the beautiful surroundings of Knebworth Barns and last year we had the lovely Chris Hollins presenting and some amazing latin dancers wowing the guests - I have to admit they were FAB! make sure you follow us on Twitter @elybizawards @fenlandbizaward @huntsbizawards @hertsbusiness and of course Linkedin!!

Phew

kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:16:00 GMT

Well that's Monday done in the world of Awards Marketing! As a new blogger I am looking at others and they seem to write essays - is this what you are expecting from me? We gained another sponsor today for our FEBA awards and three for our Herts Ad school awards which I have to admit really perked the team up - did I mention it was a Monday? Natwest in Fenland are joining us for the first time and I am so greatful for their support. Lets hope we gain another couple of Sponsors this week and the boss may take us out for lunch!!

Welcome!

kirsty.mackenzie@archant.co.uk — Fri, 20 May 2011 14:59:00 GMT

This is my first ever blog - so please be patient with me.... We have created this for all our Cambridgeshire Business Awards which include Fenland Enterprise Business Awards (AKA FEBA), Ely Standard East Cambs Business Awards and The Hunts Post Business Awards.

On here you can ask questions, discuss the evenings, find out who's entering what and basically anything and everything you may want to know! Dont forget we are also on Twitter @elybizawards @fenlandbizaward @huntsbizawards on Facebook and Linkedin so come and find us!