Dot London Small Business Awards Shortlist Revealed

News provided by

Dot London

17 Nov, 2015, 17:00 GMT

LONDON, November 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

London-based small businesses in-line for accolades following public vote 

Additional 43,600 small businesses registered in London in 2015 

Judges for the inaugural Dot London Small Business Awards, headed by entrepreneur and BBC 'Dragon' Sarah Willingham, have announced the shortlist for the awards. Now, the general public can visit http://www.awards.london to decide which London-based small businesses will be crowned Dot London Small Business Awards 2015 winners - voting opens at 5pm on 17th November.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151117/288274 )

The Awards recognise a range of industries across 12 categories, from Best Places to Eat and Drink, to Creative Agency of the Year. The winners of each category will receive £1,000, one-to-one mentorship on how to improve their online business presence, and a free Dot London domain name for a year*. There is an additional prize for the winner of the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award of a year-long membership to the Federation of Small Businesses.

Joining Sarah Willingham on the judging panel are the leading business minds behind some of London's most successful brands including health-led fast-food chain, LEON; folding bicycles pioneers, Brompton Bikes; online designer furniture retailers, Made.com; craft beer brewers, Meantime Brewery; and fashion and gift retailer, Oliver Bonas.  

Sarah Willingham, Head Judge of the Dot London Small Business Awards, said: "We have been overwhelmed by the quality of the entries for the Awards.  The ingenuity of these London-based small businesses, their drive and ambition to succeed, has been inspirational. It was really tough for us to choose our shortlists. I'm very excited to see who the public will choose as their 12 worthy winners."

Amongst the categories is the Dot Londoner of the Year award which is only open to businesses with a Dot London web address. The six finalists in this category are: Birdsong, social enterprise and online fashion outlet selling hand-made clothes and accessories; DrinkUp.London, festival organisers and listings website for the capital's best bars; I AM A, British stationery gifts company; Ma Baker, micro bakery and tutor; MyPie, street food vendor; and YogaRise, Peckham based yoga studio.

Dan Hill, Head of Dot London, said: "Through the Dot London Small Business Awards we are aiming to recognise the entrepreneurs who have successfully brought innovative ideas to London's business community, ensuring that the capital continues to be recognised as a global centre for talent, skills and business acumen. We're very proud that Dot London can pay tribute to the growing small business sector through these Awards."

According to recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS)**, London has the highest concentration of small businesses in the UK with over 436,210 small businesses registered in London in 2015, 43,600 more than the previous year, making up a staggering 98 percent of all companies registered in the capital.

The public voting will close at 5pm on 8th January 2016 and the winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony on 21st January. For more information and to vote visit http://www.awards.london.

*Subject to availability

SOURCE: 

**The sources are the 2015 ONS paper "UK Business: Activity, Size and Location"

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/bus-register/uk-business/2015/stb-uk-business--activity--size-and-location--2015.html

Notes to Editors: 

The 12 categories for the Dot London Small Business Awards 2015 are:

  • Dot London Best Place to Eat 2015, sponsored by GoDaddy
  • Dot London Best Place to Drink 2015, sponsored by GoDaddy
  • Dot London Best Independent Lifestyle Retailer 2015, sponsored by UK2
  • Dot London Best Independent Groceries Retailer 2015, sponsored by UK2
  • Dot London Best Health, Beauty and Cosmetics Provider 2015, sponsored by UK2
  • Dot London Independent Cultural Venue of the Year 2015, sponsored by UK2
  • Dot London Blogger of the Year 2015, sponsored by GoDaddy
  • Dot London New Business of the Year 2015, sponsored by 123-Reg
  • Dot London Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2015, sponsored by 123-Reg and FSB
  • Dot London Social Enterprise of the Year 2015, sponsored by Heart Internet
  • Dot London Creative Agency of the Year 2015, sponsored by Heart Internet
  • Dot Londoner of the Year 2015, sponsored by GoDaddy

For the full awards entry criteria visit http://www.awards.london  

Full List of Shortlisted Finalists: 

Best Place to Eat: 

  • Khamsa
  • Jackdaw
  • Gourmet Goat
  • Kricket
  • Laffa
  • Bobo Social

Best Place to Drink: 

  • Yellow Warbler
  • Crate Brewery
  • Vagabond
  • Stags Head
  • Little Nan's Bar
  • Luna Lounge

Best Independent Lifestyle Retailer: 

  • Sporting Feet
  • We Built this City
  • Gormley & Gamble
  • Drink Shop and Do
  • Crafty Arts
  • Nadia Minkoff London

Best Independent Grocer Retailer: 

  • Cannon & Cannon
  • Craved
  • Ms. Cupcake
  • London Deli Co.
  • Wildes Cheese
  • Ma Baker

Best Health, Beauty and Cosmetics Provider: 

  • Aduna
  • London Grace
  • The Fitting Room
  • Stuart Phillips
  • Yasmine Creations
  • Yogarise

Blogger of the Year: 

  • Little Known Film
  • 5 Things to do today
  • Ms Marmite Lover
  • Look Up London
  • 30 Dates
  • South London Blog

Independent Cultural Venue of the Year: 

  • arebyte
  • ArtsDepot
  • KH
  • Matthews Yard
  • St John's Square
  • The Cockpit

New Business of the Year: 

  • 3 Kinds of Ice
  • Drink Up
  • Olio
  • Trurating
  • Mypie
  • Wonderush

Young Entrepeneur of the Year: 

  • Gojimo - George Burgess
  • MBJ - Julian Baladurage
  • Papi's Pickles - Abi Ramanan
  • SOPOST - Jonathan Grubin
  • SUPA Academy - Bejay Mulenga
  • Young Founders/Edge Mobile - Kit Logan

Social Enterprise of the Year: 

  • Bikeworks
  • Birdsong
  • Old Spike Roastery
  • House of St. Barnabas
  • Olio
  • Papi's Pickles

Creative Agency of the Year  

  • Ben Tallon Creative
  • Chaos Design
  • PB Creative
  • The London Fashion Agency
  • Enter the Wilderness
  • Dreadnought Media

Dot Londoner of the Year: 

  • Yogarise
  • Birdsong
  • Mypie.london
  • Drinkup.london
  • Iama.london
  • Ma Baker

About Dot London: 

London & Partners has set up a subsidiary, Dot London Domains Ltd, to operate the new registry. It has procured a Registry Services Provider, Minds + Machines, which is working in partnership to set up and operate the domain. Dot London domain name is one of more than 1,000 new gTLDs being released by ICANN, the global internet body, along with other city based domain names, including '.paris', '.berlin' and '.nyc'. Dot London domain names are available to buy through a number of partner registrars.

Dot London is operated on a commercial basis and any surplus profits is re-invested for the benefit of London. More information can be found at http://domains.london/