Thousands of nominations have been received for the 2018 Illawarra and South Coast Local Business Awards. Precedent Productions managing director Steve Loe said many people in the community threw their support behind the business recognition event.
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“Nominations have closed and counting is underway to determine this year’s finalists. This year, more people than ever took the opportunity to nominate their favourite businesses online,” he said.
“Coupled with the printed coupons, we were inundated with thousands of nominations. The Illawarra and South Coast community is close-knit and parochial in the very best sense of the word as they support each other and celebrate everyone’s achievements. That’s just one of the many reasons why so many people choose to live, work and operate businesses in the area.”
The next step after identifying the most popular nominees from residents in the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and South Coast will be to contact those chosen as finalists.
Anonymous judges will then visit each one to assess their services from a customer’s point of view.
Judging criteria includes the range of products, value for money, business and staff appearance, service quality and customer relations.
Finalists also get a chance to promote themselves to the judges by submitting information that an anonymous visitor may not see, such as customer testimonials and references.
Among the businesses that impressed in 2017 was a six year old Shellharbour tutoring business that went on to be name best sole trader in the nation at the Australian Small Business Champion Awards in April.
Mr Loe said the popular awards and the chance to showcase businesses such as Nicola’s Tutoring and its owner Nicola Xanthopoulos, 23, were made possible by the generous support of the major sponsors Dapto Leagues Club and Warilla Grove Shopping Centre.
Outstanding local business winners will be announced at Dapto Leagues Club on July 18.