News Archive

Deputy Minister for Women to launch top awards competition for women in business

(11 May 2006)

The official launch of the North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, hosted by Women Into the Network (WIN) took place on Friday 5 May at Ramside Hall Hotel in Durham.

Women and men from across the region came and listen to last year’s winners and hear which categories are open for nomination in what has now become one of the region’s most highly rated business award competitions.

Meg Munn MP, Deputy Minister for Women and Equality made a special journey to the North East to hear about the work of networking initiative Women Into the Network, and to officially launch this year’s awards. She commented: “These awards are an important part of encouraging enterprise both regionally and nationally.”

Now in their seventh year, the Awards recognise and reward the tremendous contribution being made to the North East economy by women and are specifically targeted at women who have set up or taken over an independently owned business in the North East.

There are nine award categories on offer, including ‘The Susan Dobson Award for Entrepreneurship’, sponsored by the Susan Dobson Memorial Fund; Best Newcomer, sponsored by The Journal and a brand new category ‘Woman in Retail’, sponsored by The Mailing House Group.

WIN Events and Communications Manager, Lisa Vickers, said, “We are delighted that Meg Munn is supporting this year’s Awards. The launch is a great opportunity for women in the region to find out more about the Awards process, be inspired by past winners and of course network with those across the business spectrum. We hope that this year’s launch continues to encourage all the talented women out there to put themselves forward again this year”.