Now in its fourth year, the Greater Manchester Business Awards has had to change its format considerably to remain relevant under the current restrictions for Covid-19. To replace the scheduled black tie event, the winners were announced on the 4th September at a special live streaming ceremony featuring ITV’s Paul Crone. The live announcement revealed the 8 category winners in a special broadcast over YouTube, put together by organisers Rich Media Group International. GM Business Connect have been media sponsors from the very first event that took place in 2017, kicking off with a glitzy black tie awards ceremony at the Edwardian Radisson Hotel in the centre of Manchester. From there the event has grown in popularity, so new organisers this year – Rich Media Group – were very keen to keep the momentum going.
Organiser Sophie Richardson (digital marketing manager, Rich Media Group) commented: “Like GM Business Connect we’ve been involved with the awards since the first event in 2017. “When the opportunity to take over as organisers came up we jumped at the chance as it was always such a great way to mix with a fantastic variety of businesses. We had got as far as booking the venue for the winners’ ceremony in September, plus the entries had started arriving, when Covid-19 changed the whole outlook for the awards. Many similar events seemed to take the decision to cancel outright for this year, however, so many people had taken the time and effort to put together detailed entries, plus the fact that
we felt it important that businesses needed the platform to raise their profiles in this difficult climate, that we decided to go ahead.
“So, rather than trust that social distancing rules had been relaxed enough to put on a live event, we decided to go virtual with a live streaming winners’ show at the beginning of September. This ended up as a fantastic way to support our shortlisted businesses, as well as showcase our own credentials as a video production company. Looking forward to 2021 we are assuming we’re all able to go back to a more traditional celebration of the awards culminating with a fabulous black tie evening. In fact we’ve booked the venue already – the brand-new Hotel Brooklyn in Manchester which features amazing views over the Manchester skyline. Plus, we’ve also chosen our charity partner for 2021- Pennine Health Care.”
As media sponsors we followed up the awards ceremony by visiting (following social distancing guidelines) the winners of the 8 categories along with Sophie, presenting them with their actual awards. There were 3 businesses that scooped double awards this year – making a total of 5 winners across the categories.
To find out more about how to enter the 2021 Greater Manchester Business Awards either contact Sophie direct on sophie@richmediagroup.co.uk or keep checking the website: greatermanchesterawards.co.uk
