SHINING a light on the immense business talent that is helping the Wiltshire economy thrive was the order of business at The Wiltshire Business Awards Meet The Judges Event.

Now the judges face the unenviable task of drawing up their shortlist for this year's event after the very successful event.

Hosted by Thrings Solicitors, which is once again is the overall sponsor for the awards, as well as sponsoring the coveted Outstanding Excellence Award, the event saw nominees for this year's awards come face-to-face with the judging panel.

The event allowed the judges the opportunity to get to know each of the business owners and find out more about the work they do across the county.

Pete Gavan, editor of the Swindon Advertiser and its sister titles the Gazette & Herald and the Wiltshire Times, said the event was a great success. He added: “Our business awards are a fantastic way to draw attention to the excellent work being done across Wiltshire. And our meet the judges event was a great way for those who have entered to show the judges why they deserve to win.

“It was great to see so many people there and we’re all looking forward to the big day in April.”

Backing this year's awards are BBC Wiltshire who are sponsoring the Service to the Community award. RSM is backing the Business Person of the Year title, and The Enterprise Network has thrown its backing behind the start-up category.

New to the panel this year is Bespoke Training and HR4 Business which has created an exciting new category focusing on Learning and Development. C3 Marketing is sponsoring the creative marketing award and also the Small Business category; NatWest is sponsoring the Medium Size Enterprise title, while the team from Mainline is supporting the Customer and Staff Care trophy.

Louise Cooper, business development manager for Newsquest Wiltshire said: "We also have another new category this year, which has proven to be very popular - that is the Corporate, Social and Environmental Responsibility award, sponsored by the Swindon and Wiltshire Partnership.

"Our Meet The Judges event was an overwhelming success. We were really pleased to see so many new businesses involved with the awards this year. We were impressed by the level of enthusiasm and expertise displayed by a number of Micro and SMEs who have really inspired the sponsors with their passion and knowledge for their businesses.

"The judges now have the difficult task of drawing up their shortlist of businesses for this year's awards, and we expect to be able to announce these early next week.

"At this point the judges will arrange to visit their businesses and find out more about them, to enable them to decide their winners."

The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on April 20 at Longleat.