Tag Archives: Call For Entries

NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards Call for Entries

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Francesca Russell

NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards call for entries

Applications are now open for the 2017 NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards.

Now in its fifth year, the Awards celebrate the hard work and inspiring stories of British entrepreneurs, not simply their financial success. There are 11 categories to enter in each host city – Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and London.

This year also sees the introduction of a new category for ‘Family Business Entrepreneur of the Year’, which will be awarded to those leading and excelling within a family business. Creator of the NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards, Francesca Russell, said: “Family businesses are often considered incompatible with entrepreneurship because they are usually tradition-bound and multi- generational. However, for family firms to continually prosper, they need to ensure that they pass on the entrepreneurial mindset and capabilities to create new streams of wealth across future generations.”

Francesca added: “Succession planning is also a big issue in business and, if handled well, can make a massive difference to the future viability of a company. Passing on the business baton to the younger generation is a challenge and we want to celebrate those who have successfully managed that transition.”

This year, the Awards have attracted a number of high profile judges including James Caan CBE, Hayley Parsons, founder of Gocompare.com, Tony Mascolo, co-founder of TONI&GUY, and Jeff Lynn, co-founder of Seedrs.

As well as attracting some of the highest profile business leaders in the UK to its judging panel, the Awards has also expanded its reach across five cities, up from two in 2016, and has secured sponsorship from a number of leading brands. NatWest is the headline sponsor for the Awards and MINI has recently renewed its support for 2017 and is sponsoring the ‘Creative Entrepreneur of the Year’ award.

Francesca continued: “2017 is an exciting year for the NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards. As well as increasing the number of regions that we can cover, we have attracted the best of the best in terms of a judging panel and sponsors. We are excited about the next phase and hearing the great entrepreneurial stories out there, waiting to be celebrated.”

In its five-year history, the NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards has celebrated some outstanding entrepreneurs who have gone on to become household names. Previous winners include David Buttress, former CEO of Just Eat, Julie Deane, founder of The Cambridge Satchel Company, James Watt, founder of BrewDog, and Alexander Solomou, founder and CEO of TheLADBible Group.

The NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards is open for applications, and you can enter here: www.greatbritishentrepreneurawards.com. The deadline for entries is August 18th, 2017.

 

 

Call For Entries: The International Nelson Mandela Poetry Tribute

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Nelson Mandela, quote, quotes, death

Credit: Wikipedia Commons

To mourn his death and celebrate his life, Poetry Zone have opened the International Nelson Mandela Poetry Tribute, as a fitting way to gather poetic tributes from around the world in an online collection – accessible to all. They welcome all contributions and would appreciate your support in alerting people to this global poetry initiative.

Nelson Mandela was a man to whom poetry and the poetry of words mattered. There’s the legend of his reading of Invictus to his fellow prisoners on Robben Island, but in every speech Mandela worked language to leverage its impact. He may not have formally published poetry, but Mandela was a poet.

On his death, the US State Department issued a poem by Maya Angelou in memory of Nelson Mandela and there have been earlier tributes by Thabo Mbeki and Tupac Shakur. At his memorial on Tuesday his Grandchildren showed the power of poetry, rousing the crowd with short electric stabs in a call and response tribute to Mandela’s modesty and power.

For the many people who write poetry around the world, an opportunity now exists to contribute their own poetry; to write a poetic tribute on the passing of a great historical figure. Sorrow, Gratitude, Appreciation, Love, Respect… You don’t need to be a poet laureate to take part – and it’s not a competition. It’s about personal responses. What did Nelson Mandela mean to you? How did his message affect the world? What do you feel on learning of his death? What are your personal memories and reflections? Did he inspire you? Maybe you took part, in any small way, to help end apartheid. Or you played an important role… How do you think his legacy will endure?

Nelson Mandela was a global figure who brought a message of reconciliation rather than retribution, despite his own suffering and the nature of the apartheid regime which he’d opposed. It was this that made Nelson Mandela a true inspiration to millions around the world, a man who was prepared to lay down his own life to affect the change needed to rectify the glaring abomination of apartheid.

It is free to post poems at www.PoetryZoo.com, or simply email poems to Mandela@poetryzoo.com and they will be included in the anthology .

As the world reacts, we are glad to be able to provide a fitting international tribute in poetry to Nelson Mandela: Madiba, Tata.