The finalists in the 2015 Countryside Alliance Awards (aka the Rural Oscars) will be heading to Parliament in search of a national award tomorrow. Judges have driven over 5,000 miles and visited every finalist in the running and the national judging panel has now met to decide on overall champions. A reception will be held at Parliament on Wednesday 27th April at which a champion in each category will be announced.
The Awards are the Countryside Alliance's annual celebration of rural produce, skills, enterprise and heritage through our small hard-working businesses. They are now in their eleventh year and have become the definitive rural business award to win. The Awards are public-nomination led across four categories: Local Food; Village Shop/ Post Office; Butcher and Tourism Enterprise. Thousands of nominations were received and the judges have selected the below finalists in each category.
The finalists on their way to London are:
Local Food finalists
Village Shop finalists (read a Weekend section feature about the Awards finalists in the Daily Telegraph.)
Tourism Enterprise finalists
Butcher finalists
Countryside Alliance Awards director Jill Grieve commented: "These finalists are all exceptional – we have been overwhelmed by nominations this year so for them to get this far is a huge achievement. The secret to the Rural Oscars' popularity is that they honour the people involved in these businesses and not just their produce or services. They exist to sing the praises of those who work hard to keep our communities and rural economy ticking, but don't seek the spotlight. We are delighted to offer this platform to enable people to say "thank you" to them for all they contribute. I wish all of these businesses well."
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