The deadline for The Westmorland Gazette’s Business and Tourism Awards has now passed – and entries have flooded in.

Directors have pulled out all the stops this year to prove the value of their firms to the economy and the community in their local region.

With scores of firms sending in their success stories, there are clearly many businesses with good news to report.

This year we have been inundated with entries for our social and community development award and our team of the year award as businesses aim to promote their worth to the area and the top class people they employ.

In the next fortnight, entries will be judged by our sponsors, who will reveal three shortlisters for each award category.

Finalists will then be invited to a glittering awards ceremony at The Castle Green Hotel, in Kendal, on September 16, where the best and the brightest of our region’s enterprise will be announced.