The awards, also known as the WIN Awards, are being sponsored by Newcastle College, the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC), Tees Valley Unlimited, NatWest, Business Durham and Sage Group.
This prestigious award ceremony, now in its 16th year, is eagerly anticipated by women entrepreneurs all over the North East to showcase their hard work and achievements during the previous twelve months.
Nickie Gott, Chair of NECC’s Women’s Advisory Board and owner of She’s Gott It events who are organising the awards, said: “We are incredibly grateful to our sponsors for their ongoing support.
“Through the work I do with NECC, we continue our support for women in business: encouraging and supporting greater levels of female entrepreneurship; maximising employment and career development opportunities for women; and bridging the gender gap in skills to ensure our future industries have a world class workforce.
“With the invaluable support of our sponsors we are able to shine a spotlight upon those women who are leading the way in these areas and celebrate awards including Best Creative Business Woman, Woman in STEM Business and Best Apprentice. Women have different skills that are sometimes left untapped due to outdated stereotypes and we want to celebrate those who are helping to drive North East business forward.”
Lead sponsor of the Women’s Entrepreneur Awards is Newcastle College. Principal, Tony Lewin said: “Newcastle College is proud to be headline sponsor of the North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Awards and Best Use of Innovation category.
“The region is renowned for its creativity and innovation and we are extremely fortunate to have some outstanding female business leaders and entrepreneurs who make a significant contribution to the success of the North East.
“These awards celebrate and champion women who are breaking boundaries in their field and inspiring generations to come. As the largest college in the region, we provide education, skills and training that help all of our students to fulfil their career ambitions and work with employers to address skills gaps and create more opportunities in areas where women are still underrepresented.”
Catherine Johns, Innovation and Business Growth Director at Business Durham, is particularly excited to be supporting a new award this year, the Woman in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) Award.
“We’re looking for women who have pioneered new discoveries or been instrumental in bringing the benefits of those discoveries to market for economic and social impact,” said Catherine.
“We want the next generation of women scientists and engineers to see today’s role models and know that they can be one of them. These awards help us to do that.”
The North East Women’s Entrepreneurs Awards will take place on Friday 13 November. For more information please visithttp://winawards.co.uk/