The first round of judging has been completed and the Sunshine Coast Business Awards are excited to announce the finalists for the 2022 Awards.
There are 143 finalists across 17 industry categories including 21 Noosa locals featuring the likes of Team BnB, 99design, NOOSA alive!, Kaali Gourmet Indian Restaurant, Moonstruck Noosa and Youturn.
Sunshine Coast Business Awards Chair Jennifer Swaine said this year’s entries were again of a very high calibre, with all entrants doing a lot of work putting their entries together.
“I would like to congratulate this year’s finalists and also thank everyone who entered,” Mrs Swaine said.
“Past entrants and finalists have told us they found the entry process worthwhile so we hope everyone will use what they learnt about their businesses during the application process to advance them.”
Mrs Swaine said now the finalists would enter the next stage of the judging process with interviews taking place over the coming weeks.
“In addition to the interviews, Finalists will also have the opportunity to participate in the Masterclass to assist them to make the most of being a finalist.”
Mrs Swaine said the Sunshine Coast Business Awards were only possible thanks to many volunteers involved in the awards and the support of sponsors who financially supported them.
“The Awards are reliant on sponsorships to ensure we can deliver the program throughout the year, leading to our Gala Awards Celebration in November, and we are delighted to have a record level of support from our sponsors this year, including naming rights sponsor, LPE.”
Mrs Swaine also said that all the judges for the awards were highly successful businesspeople, who all volunteered their time to read through the entries and now would participate in the interview process for finalists.
“This year we have 26 judges and each have assessed 22 applications which is about 110,000 words read each. Combined that is more than 2.8 million words read, or like reading all seven Harry Potter novels 2.6 times, so it is a lot of work.
“We couldn’t provide such a high calibre of Awards without our cohort of experienced judges, and we are very grateful to all of them.
“We now look forward to working with our Finalists as we complete the judging process and are excited as we head towards our celebration gala event that will be held on 12 November at the Sunshine Coast Convention Centre.
“I would also like to acknowledge the committee members who are also volunteers and who contribute around 100 volunteer hours a month to deliver the awards year after year.”
The Business of the Year winner is chosen from the winners of the categories. Hall of Fame Awards are awarded to those who have won their category three years in a row.
To find out more about the Awards visit sunshinecoastbusinessawards.com.au
