About the Local Business Awards:

• What are the Local Business Awards and who are the organisers?
• The Objectives of the Awards
• What regions do the Local Business Awards cover?
• How many categories are there?
• What will winners receive?

Submitting Votes:

• Who can be nominated in the Local Business Awards?
• Who can submit votes?
• When can I vote?
• Are entry forms kept confidential?
• Why can't Messenger readers vote in the Real Estate category?

Judging:

• How does it work?
• Who are the judges?

Awards Night:

• When will the Awards night take place?
• What will it cost to attend the Awards night?

 

About the Local Business Awards

What are the Local Business Awards and who are the organisers?

Messenger Newspapers' Local Business Awards identifies and recognises the achievements of local business in their communities.

 

Messenger Newspapers publish 11 publications across metropolitan Adelaide. Distributed to 546,936 homes and businesses across metropolitan Adelaide and read by 639,000 people.

Our mission is to produce quality community newspapers that are the voice for our readers, the first choice for advertisers, and the media that best reflects the attitudes and aspirations of their communities.

 

Unlike any other medium, community newspapers have a unique relationship with readers, local businesses and the community, exemplified through our Local Business Awards program.

 

 

The Objectives of the Awards

• To recognise outstanding businesses for their contribution to the local community, excellence in management, customer service and product delivery.
• To bring together people from various sectors of a local region to celebrate their success and recognise their achievements.
• To assist in improving the standard of local business.
• To develop, maintain and strengthen business to business relationships.
• To acknowledge employees for their contribution to the success of local business.
• To provide an added value service through feedback to businesses, through the nomination and judging process and through sponsor involvement.
• To communicate the range of services sponsors can offer the local business community.

What regions do the Local Business Awards cover?

There are four geographic regions, based on Messenger Newspapers circulation map:

 

City & Eastern Region: Eastern Courier, East Torrens, City North & The City Messengers

North & North Eastern Region: News Review and Leader Messengers

Southern Region: Southern Times, Hills & Valley and Guardian Messengers

Western Region: Portside and Weekly Times Messengers

 

 

How many categories are there?

 

Voting Category List

RETAIL CATEGORIES

1. Fashion - clothing, footwear, swimwear, accessories, surf wear

2. Beauty - hairdressing, nail and skin care, electrolysis, makeup

3. Household and General Retail - hardware, furniture, electrical, home wares, garden shops

4. Food & Beverage - retail sale of cooked and uncooked food, baked goods, beverages and liquor, in supermarkets, grocery and specialty stores
5. Specialty Retailer - business who specialise in specific goods and services (i.e. newsagent, florist, jewellers, health foods, pet shops/groomers, sport stores)

HOSPITALITY CATAGORIES

6. Casual Dining - unlicensed eateries
7. Formal Dining - licensed eateries (excluding Hotels, Motels, Taverns)

8. Hotels, Motels and Taverns – including licensed Sporting and Community Clubs

PROFESSIONAL AND TRADE SERVICE CATEGORIES

9. Healthcare - medical services, pharmacy, dental, physio, chiropractic, alternative medicine
10. Professional & Business Services - veterinary, legal, accounting/finance brokering, travel agents, event management
11. Motor Vehicle Dealerships - new and used dealerships
12. Skilled Trades and Services - plumbers, mechanics, electricians, landscapers, panel beaters, tyre and exhaust outlets
13. Recreation and Leisure - gyms, sport centres, sports associations, tour operators, cinemas

Non-Voting

REAL ESTATE

14. Real estate agents, property management
    
    This category is evaluated without Messenger reader votes.
    
    Agencies are independently evaluated by Shop-Angels, and judged on service and quality criteria, as with the other L.B.A categories.

What will winners receive?

All winners receive the following:

• Winner's Trophy and certificate acknowledging their achievement.
• Exclusive use of the ‘Local Business Awards’ logo and trophy image for use in promotional material for marketing purposes.
• Gold Award - The top business from each region will be awarded $1,800 cash from Bendigo Bank, and advertising credits to the value of $7,000 to be used in Messenger publications specific to the respective region (conditions apply).
• Silver Award - An Encouragement Award of $700 cash from Bendigo, and Messenger advertising credits to the value of $3,000 will be awarded to one business from each region (conditions apply).
• In total, winners across four regions share in $10,000 cash from Bendigo and $40,000 of advertising credits.
• Winner’s window sticker to display at your business.

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Submitting Votes

Who can be nominated in the Local Business Awards?

The Local Business Awards are open to all local businesses wholly within the circulation areas of the respective Messenger distribution region, as determined by Messenger Newspapers. This includes privately owned small-medium sized businesses, franchised with the nominee being the only franchise of the same name and proprietor in that zone area and sole traders.

 

Who can submit votes?

Anyone! Votes for businesses must be lodged online at this website. Click here to vote

 

 

When can I vote?

The voting period varies for each region. Your local paper will commence your community's Local Business Awards as listed below:

 

The City Messenger (City & Eastern Region): 9 March

Eastern Courier Messenger (City & Eastern Region): 9 March

East Torrens Messenger (City & Eastern Region): 9 March

City North Messenger (City & Eastern Region): 9 March

Leader Messenger (North & North Eastern Region): 11 May

News Review Messenger (North & North Eastern Region): 11 May

Guardian Messenger (Southern Region): 6 July

Southern Times Messenger (Southern Region): 6 July

Hills & Valley Messenger (Southern Region): 6 July

Portside Messenger Newspaper (Western Region): 31 August

Weekly Times Messenger (Western Region): 31 August

 

 

Are entries kept confidential?

All information provided to Messenger Newspapers conforms to the Privacy Agreement (as published in the Public Notices). If you do not wish to receive information from Messenger Newspapers or any of it's affiliates please read the information carefully.

 

 

Why can't Messenger readers vote in the Real Estate category?

Real Estate is still a very important category in the L.B.A.

 

The nature of their business means that, unlike a hairdresser or hotel, they do not have hundreds of customers walking in their door every week.

 

Agents will be evaluated by the same independent company, Shop Angels, on service and quality criteria.

 

It is worth remembering that the number of votes only determines a short list of six semi-finalists, so the mystery service evaluation is by far the most important stage in determining a winner.

 

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Judging

How does it work?

The judging process consists of three stages:

1. Initial category nominations are made by local readers/customers submitting votes online.
2. The top 6 semi-finalists for each category, based on nomination results, will be Mystery Shopped by an independent Mystery Shopping & Business Evaluation provider. The Mystery Shopper assesses each business on overall service levels, first impressions, customer perception, staff and site appearance along with merchandising appearance and effectiveness.
3. The four finalists in each category will be then be assessed for workplace safety management by a SafeWork SA representative. The representative will ask questions based on management commitment to health and safety, safety improvement/s in the workplace, staff awareness and understanding of health and safety. The results from these four SafeWork SA visits will be added to the Mystery Shop results to determine the winner in each category.
4. The winners are announced at the Awards Presentation Night.

If a business attracts an unusually high number of votes, and it is able to be determined with reasonable certainty that a large number of votes for that business is originating from the same source, that business will be considered for disqualification.

 

The rule is – one nomination per person, per category.

 

Who are the judges?

 

The judges are your customers, Independent Mystery Shopping company Shop Angels and Workplace Safety Management Assessors SafeWork SA.

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Awards Night

When will the Awards night take place?

Each region will host an Awards night. Dates will vary depending on your region:

 

City & Eastern Region

(Eastern Courier, East Torrens, City North & The City Messengers) - 21st May 2011

 

North & North Eastern Region

(News Review and Leader Messengers) - 23rd July 2011

 

Southern Region

(Southern Times, Hills & Valley and Guardian Messengers) - 17th September 2011

 

Western Region

(Portside and Weekly Times Messengers) - 12th November 2011

 

 

What will it cost to attend the Awards night?

Finalists or a representative from your business are required to attend the Awards dinner. Each finalist's company will receive one complimentary ticket. Additional tickets can be purchased in the weeks before the Awards night, which will be attended by community and business leaders. Messenger Newspapers will notify you about costs and details of the Awards night closer to the event.

 

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