The 13th annual Fairford and Lechlade business awards will launch next week.

Fairford & Lechlade Business Club will be launching the awards at Sudbury House Hotel, Faringdon, on Thursday, October 24, from 7.30pm.

The awards are designed to recognise the excellence and achievements of local businesses.

The launch will follow the same format as last year with former sponsors, winners and finalists explaining why they got involved with the awards event and how the involvement has benefitted their businesses.

There will be complimentary drinks and nibbles available.

The business awards presentations and dinner will be held at Sudbury House Hotel on Saturday, January 25 at 7pm.

Chair of the business club, Helen Webb, said: “We are expecting a bumper number of entries again in 2020 due to the expansion of the business club supporting businesses across three counties – Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.”

Categories available to enter include Business of the Year, Business Person, New Business and Most Innovative Business, and the club will be using the new online entry system, which was introduced for the first time last year.

Any member of the business club can enter the awards absolutely free of charge regardless of size or type of their business and any non-member can also enter free of charge if their business is in the GL7, GL54, SN6, SN7 or OX18 postcode areas.

As well as the top four categories, there is also the Bob Warren Hospitality Award set up in memory of Bob Warren, late landlord of the Trout Inn, Lechlade.

Around 30 hospitality venues will go head-to-head in an online voting competition – the venue with the most number of votes being the overall winner.

The winner of the Howard Dowler Award, in memory of a founder member of the club, will be chosen by the chair of FLBClub and will be presented to the member who has made an outstanding contribution to the local community.

Finally, the Business Student of the Year will be chosen from Year 10 business students at Farmor’s School and has long been sponsored by the RAF Charitable Trust Enterprises (Air Tattoo).

To guarantee your place for the awards launch next Thursday, go to bit.ly/2Ba6q8V

To find out more about the Business Awards, visit www.flbc.org.uk or contact admin@flbc.org.uk.