Whanganui Regional Business Awards open with launch on August 20

Whanganui Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Raewyn Overton-Stuart speaks at the last business awards ceremony in 2016.

Businesses are being encouraged to celebrate success in the 2018 Whanganui Regional Business Awards.

The Whanganui Chamber of Commerce and Industry's awards will be launched at Frank. Bar and Eatery at 5.30pm on Monday, August 20. The awards were last held in 2016.

Chamber president Raewyn Overton-Stuart said the awards application process had been streamlined to make it easier and more accessible and would be online.

"Getting the award applications fully online this year was a priority for us.

"We wanted to ensure businesses could easily apply and our judges had easy access to entries."

Applications open on August 20 and close on October 15. The winners will be announced at a gala dinner on November 24.

"The awards gala dinner is the premier, black-tie business event for 2018," Overton-Stuart said.

"Business owners and their staff are always deeply moved to be recognised for their hard work, innovation and dedication and that's a big part of what the awards are about – celebrating the region's business success."

Chamber chief executive Marianne Archibald said MediaWorks was the principal sponsor for the awards, with several more local, regional and national sponsors supporting the awards.

"We will be announcing our awards partners at the launch function and throughout the time leading up to the awards," Archibald said.

"These are companies and organisations that support excellence in the region's business and we couldn't run the awards without them."

The chamber will hold three workshops on how to apply for an award and the value of applying. The workshops will be at Confluence on August 23, August 28 and September 5. Contact Melita Farley at Confluence to register: email melita@doublefarley.com

For more information about the awards or to register for the launch function, email ce@whanganuichamber.net.nz