Hot off the press - 2021 Awards info

Electra Business & Innovation Awards – opening their voting to the public!

2021 is set to be an exciting Awards season for the Electra Business & Innovation Awards as they mix it up with a new text to vote Top Shop awards.

It’s that time of year again and entries are soon to open for this year’s Electra Business & Innovation Awards, but this year will see some exciting twists.

There are some new additions and the inclusion of a public text to vote campaign too.

The Awards will still see the industry-based categories that were introduced last year:

● Manufacturing, Production and Processing

● Hospitality, Entertainment and Tourism

● Construction and Trades

● Retail

● Professional and Business Services, or Technology and

● Not for Profit, Community and Public Services

Sub-categories:

● New/Emerging and

● Small Business

Hall of fame for both regions will continue, as will the much-coveted Electra Business of the Year Awards.

The Special Award for Innovation introduced for 2020 will continue for 2021, in addition to the introduction of a new Special Award for Sustainability.

Brendan Duffy, Chair of Business Kapiti Horowhenua Inc (who convene the Awards) commented, “the Board felt strongly that Sustainability should have a stronger focus for the 2021 season. We introduced it as one of the areas we judged on in the industry categories for 2020, but it’s such a crucial lense for all businesses to look through across all aspects of their practices that we felt the need to elevate it for 2021 and honour those businesses that are doing great things in this space. We are looking forward to hearing some great stories”.

Entries open the week of the 5th April 2021, and all applications can be made via the easy-to-use online portal.

Exciting news for 2021 is that Customer Choice is being bought back but with a fresh face – it's now to be called “Top Shop” - these awards will be run as a separate campaign following the main entries and voting will be via text to vote.

Businesses must register online to be in the running for the “Top Shop” award and then the public will decide who wins via a text to vote system.

Businesses can register between the 21st June – 4th July and then voting opens to the public between the 12th-25th July. There will be a “Top Shop” selected for both Kāpiti and Horowhenua business regions.

Any business that has customers can enter – it's about the public voting for the business they feel has delivered the best customer experience.

We all know that businesses are time poor and that life is busy, so if you’re asking yourself “why should I enter?”, “why should I invest my time?”, here are a few quick reasons:

• The Awards offers an awesome way to promote your business to the Kāpiti and Horowhenua community – it provides you with a stage to present your offering.

• It’s an awesome way to benchmark your business with others in your industry.

• It provides an opportunity that forces you to stop and really look at your business, review what you are doing and plan to move forward.

• You’ll also have access to Award-winning judges – the judging team are second to none with Head Judge - Suzanne Snively receiving her Damehood last year. They are experts in their fields and ready to cast their eye over your business.

• The Awards also offer an opportunity to network with other like-minded local businesses and form valuable connections.

• As well as providing an awesome marketing opportunity with their extensive promotional campaign.

The Awards Programme Managers – Charlotte Tollervey and Natalie Rutene of PomPom Events & Marketing are looking forward to the season ahead, commenting, “It was great to be a part of the Awards journey last year as they transitioned into a very different model and made some significant changes, it will be awesome to see those changes bed in this year and also to bring Top Shop to the public. We are excited to see how the public vote and get a real feel for the businesses that the Kāpiti and Horowhenua communities believe are deserving of recognition”.

So, the question, really is, why not enter?!