LAST week loved ones celebrated Valentine's Day and now its time for you to show your business, and team, some love by entering the INSPIRE Business Awards 2024.
The clock is ticking down to the Thursday, February 29 deadline – just two weeks away – so make sure you avoid INSPIRE Awards heartbreak by getting your entry, or entries, in on time.
A total of 12 category awards and a Winner of Winners prize will be up for grabs in the 2024 event as organiser Destination Basingstoke has increased the number of categories and the breadth of the awards.
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Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has again shown its support for the local business community by signing up as event headline sponsor and sponsor of the Business and the Community Champion Award.
Shaw Gibbs, the Basing View-based accountants and business advisers, is the new sponsor of the Large Business of the Year category, while award-winning Basingstoke firm Centerprise International is sponsor of the new Medium Business of the Year category.
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Worting House is sponsoring the Rural Business of the Year Award, while Plant, which is regenerating an iconic Basing View building, is sponsor of the Sustainable Champion Award.
Long-time sponsors Absolutely Offices, SNG (formerly Sovereign Housing), and Minuteman Press are all returning as category sponsors for the 2024. Hampshire Chamber of Commerce has also joined the roster of INSPIRE 2024 sponsors, and will be sponsoring the welcome drinks reception and networking event at the awards night.
The 2024 INSPIRE Business Awards categories, and sponsors so far, are:
- Large Business of the Year – sponsored by Shaw Gibbs
- Medium Business of the Year – sponsored by Centerprise International
- Small Business of the Year – available for sponsorship
- Wellbeing Champion – sponsored by SNG
- Sustainable Champion – sponsored by Plant
- Young Business Person of the Year – sponsored by Minuteman Press
- Rural Business of the Year – sponsored by Worting House
- Apprentice of the Year – sponsored by Basingstoke College of Technology
- Business and Community Champion – sponsored by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council
- New Business of the Year – available for sponsorship
- Service Excellence – available for sponsorship
- Best Place to Work – available for sponsorship
- Winner of Winners – sponsored by Absolutely Offices
- Awards Night Welcome Drinks Event sponsor – Hampshire Chamber of Commerce
Jonathan Pender, chair of Destination Basingstoke, said: “Destination Basingstoke is proud and honoured to be organising the INSPIRE Business Awards 2024. This is a long-running and prestigious annual awards event that showcases and celebrates the best individuals and organisations in local business.
“We are delighted to see some long-time sponsors returning and are also delighted to see new sponsors coming on board. INSPIRE Business Awards 2024 will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of next year’s local business calendar – but you’ve got to be in it to win it.
“There are now just two weeks left to get your entries in. It is simple, free and easy to enter and the relatively little time it takes can pay off big time in terms of showcasing and celebrating your business, and team, if you make it to the final.”
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Entry to the INSPIRE Business Awards 2024 can be done at destinationbasingstoke.co.uk/inspire.
The 2024 event is focusing in on businesses in Basingstoke and Deane, and all entrants must be based in the borough, or do more than 20 per cent of their business in the area, or have 20 per cent of staff that live in Basingstoke and Deane.
Every year, the INSPIRE Business Awards makes a difference to a good cause – and the charity of the year for the 2024 event is Sport Parkinson’s.
The decision to promote and fundraise for the charity is linked to INSPIRE’s support for former Hampshire and England cricketer Shaun Udal, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2019.
If any business or organisation wishes to take up one of the remaining four categories and join the 2024 roster of category sponsors, please contact Mark Jones, partnerships manager at Destination Basingstoke, on mark.jones@destinationbasingstoke.co.uk.
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