THE launch of the 2018 Winchester Business Excellence Awards is taking place later this month. 

This year's launch party will take place on Wednesday, January 17 at Holiday Inn Winchester, where attendees will enjoy drinks and canapes while celebrating local business success.

During the evening, organised in partnership by the Hampshire Chronicle, Hampshire Chamber of Commerce and Winchester BID, guests will also hear more about the competition, gain networking opportunities and hear from the 2017 Business of the Year winner Iain Steele from Richard Steele and Partners on what it meant to them to win the award.

The award is once again working with Simplyhealth Professionals, who are the principal sponsors of the event and also category sponsors of the Business of the Year award.

The event is also sponsored by several other Winchester businesses, who all play a key part in the city.

These include the University of Winchester, Winchester City Council, Paris Smith LLP, Winchester BID and The Breeze.

These businesses each sponsor an award category helping to celebrate the diverse and unique businesses based in the district.

Each award is open for entries from the date of the launch until Friday, February 23, with businesses able to nominate award-worthy organisations or enter the awards themselves to showcase their success and help showcase the very best of what Winchester has to offer.

The awards scheme will culminate in a ceremony on Friday, June 1 in Winchester’s Guildhall.

The launch party will be at 5.30pm.

To book a place to attend the launch, Hampshire Chamber of Commerce are taking bookings via events.north@hampshirechamber.co.uk.