ENTRIES are flooding in as the clock ticks down on the deadline for The Westmorland Gazette 2010 Business and Tourism Awards.

Companies from across South Lakeland, Eden and north Lancashire have applied in the hope of scooping one of this newspaper’s 11 coveted accolades in categories such as Retailer of the Year, Tourist Attraction of the Year and the Green Business Award.

New sponsors accountants CLB Coopers have pledged their support for the Business of the Year category.

They said the entrants represented the local businesses which have dem-onstrated growth, a passion for business and the determination to succeed in what are still difficult market cond-itions.

The company believed the entries highlighted the diversity of the South Lakes business community and the contrib-utions that this area made to the economy as a whole.

Tony Whiteway, CLB Coopers’ managing part-ner at Lancaster, said: “We work with many businesses across the North West and understand the level of effort, deter-mination and hard work that is needed to not only drive businesses forward but also to achieve profit-able growth. Importantly, these awards recognise this hard work and the successes of local busi-nesses in what are still times of economic uncertainty.

“CLB Coopers is looking forward to sponsoring the awards, and to celebrating the dedication of local businesses in their promotion of the rich offerings of the business community.

He added: “We wish all the entrants for each cat-egory of the 2010 Business and Tourism Awards the best of luck and we look forward to celebrating with them on the night.”

Banking chain NatWest is also adding its support to the awards by sponsoring the category of Hotel of the Year.

Jason Bain and Sarah Turnbull, directors of business and commercial banking for NatWest in South Cumbria and Lancaster, said: “NatWest is delighted to sponsor the Hotel of the Year Award.

“The region has some of the best hotels in the country and these awards represent a great platform to highlight the hard work and excellent standards that exist within the local hotel market.”

A panel of judges will shortly begin work to select a shortlist of finalists for each category.

The ultimate winners will be announced at a glittering ceremony at The Castle Green Hotel, in Kendal, on Friday, September 17, hosted by North West Tonight presenter Dianne Oxberry.