THEY are the businesses in the running for our South Coast Business Awards.

The first round of judging is over the shortlisted entries for the 2017 awards are as follows:

Best of Use of Technology (sponsored by Taylor Made Solutions): Daniamant, Gooseberry Plant, Leadstream, Loadbalancer

Small Business of the Years (Hampshire Chamber of Commerce): Media Bunker, Cold Store Rentals, Digi Toolbox Ltd, The Cloud Limited

Sustainable Business of the Year (Meachers Global Logistics): SB Joinery, Vegeco Ltd, Dynamic Load Monitoring Ltd, Greenclose Hotels Ltd

Employer of the Year (Southampton City Council): Liberty Leasing plc, SB joinery, Highfield Professional Solutions, Clearvision

Commitment to the Region (British American Tobacco): Greenclose Hotels Ltd, Silver Lining Convergance Ltd, First Hampshire, Bluestar

Owner Managed Business (Moore Stephens): SB Joinery, Liberty Leasing plc, The Highfield Company, Snowflake Software

Customer Service (Winchester Motor Company Skoda): Vanilla Catering & Events, Silver Lining Convergance Ltd, The Workshop, Right at Home Solent

Growth Business of the Year (Smith & Williamson): SB Joinery, Koh Thai Restaurants, Utilita Energy, Formaplex

Between now and June the award judges will be meeting and visiting shortlisted entrants.

Each company will be asked to give a short presentation to the judging panel which will be made up of a representative from law firm Trethowans, Santander and the category sponsor.

All of the shorlisted companies will be entered into the top prize – Business of the Year sponsored by Trethowans.

Simon Rhodes, senior partner and head of employment, said: “The overall winner really needs to be a special business. There are lots of excellent companies to choose from and it is great to hear all their stories.

“This overall winner’s award reflects the greatest passion, excellence and hard work.”

Last year’s winners were Trimline – the marine interior refurbishment specialist which refit passenger ships all over the world - which did not win their category, Growth.

Marketing manager Bev Edwards said: “We were pleasantly surprised. But the judges told us we ticked the boxes in a nearly all the competitionategories and were an obvious winner.”

This year’s winners will be announced at the Hilton at the Ageas Bowl on July 6.

Details of buying tickets for the awards night plus all the entry information is available at dailyecho.co.uk/scba.