Published at 09:38, Friday, 22 June 2012

Some of the leading names in Cumbrian commerce will judge this year’s CN Group Business Awards.

Once again, The Cumberland News and its sister publications are celebrating the best of business in the county.

And with so many Cumbrian firms giving grounds for optimism even in the most challenging of economic climates, our judges will face a tough task in selecting winners.

This year’s awards are being presented in association with Invest in Cumbria and banking giant Barclays.

They will be represented on the judging panel by Invest in Cumbria managing director John Grainger and Barclays director John Ainsworth.

Others will be Julie Barton, director of Forge Europa in Ulverston and Andy Hooper, managing director of Whitehaven-based Westlakes Engineering. He will bring first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to be one of the contenders having won the businessperson of the year accolade in last year’s awards. They will be joined by an editorial representative from CN Group.

Marie Whitehead, director of cnevents, will chair the panel. She said: “We are delighted to have such a strong judging panel for this year’s awards.

“These are people with vast knowledge and broad experience of business in Cumbria – experts who are all too aware of the challenges firms in the county are having to overcome to thrive even in these harsh economic times. We are looking forward to reading the nominations and preparing ourselves for what is sure to be a tough task in choosing our winners.

“These awards are a chance for companies in Cumbria to highlight their success and we hope many of them take the opportunity to do so.”

Judging will take place at CN Group’s Newspaper House headquarters in Carlisle in early September.

All short-listed finalists will be invited to the gala awards presentation at Rheged, near Penrith, on October 18.

For full details about the awards visit the website www.cnbusinessawards.co.uk

Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk