Awards get a bad name, don’t they?
For a lot of people, awards mean politics, the same faces every year, a bit of back-slapping and a nice photo for LinkedIn.
Somewhere along the way, the word “awards” started to sound a bit… hollow.
Jo and I knew that when we took this on.
We’d felt it ourselves at times.
So, we made a decision early on: if we were going to put our name to an awards campaign, it had to actually stand for something.
It couldn’t just look good. It had to do good too.
That’s the difference between talking the talk and walking the walk, and we’re very clear which side we’re on.
“A Load of Made-up Nonsense, Right?”
One of the best bits of feedback we saw after the last ceremony came from Ann Langley.
She started her post with:
“A load of made-up nonsense, right?
I know that’s some people’s view on awards.
Whilst it might be true of some, that was NOT the case last night!”
She went on to talk about the sense of community in the room, how the winners’ speeches were honest about the challenges they were facing, and how every business had a proper team behind it and not just a shiny figurehead.
The bit that really hit home for us was when she said the event had given her a new goal, to win an award one day, but to sponsor one first, so she could support others and learn how to make her business better.
That’s exactly what we want this campaign to do.
Shift people from cynical to hopeful.
From sitting on the sidelines to wanting to get involved.
From “awards are nonsense” to “I want to be part of this”.
What Walking The Walk Looks Like For Us
Behind the scenes, it’s not glamorous. It’s spreadsheets, emails, calls, and a lot of “how do we make this fairer / clearer / better?”
For us, walking the walk looks like:
Being completely transparent about how the judging works, all entries are scored against clear criteria by independent judges.
Sponsors don’t get to pick winners.
It’s not pay-to-play and it never will be.
Keeping The Money In Wigan and Leigh Wherever We Can
If we can buy it locally, we do.
Last year, tens of thousands of pounds went straight back into local businesses because of this campaign.
Forty-six thousand, nine hundred and ninety-one pounds and forty-six pence to be precise.
That matters to us.
A lot of people in that room are holding things together, juggling staff, costs, family and health.
The winners’ speeches last year reflected that. They were humble and honest.
And then there’s us. Two sisters, a small team, a big campaign.
No corporate safety net and no faceless board.
Just people who live here, care about here, and are brave (or daft) enough to put their name on it.
An Award-winning Campaign In Its Own Right
One thing we don’t shout about enough is that the Wigan Business Awards campaign has been recognised in its own right.
In 2025 Jo and I put our money where our mouth is and put ourselves forward at the Chamber Excellence Awards. We went and bloody won!
Walking away with the Marketing Impact Award gave us a taste of what all our finalists have to face!
So now, when a business becomes a finalist or a winner, they’re aligning with an independently judged, award-winning campaign that other organisations look at and say, “they’re doing something special there.”
That’s another layer of responsibility; we can’t cut corners, and we don’t want to.
If we say we care about integrity, community and impact, then the campaign has to prove it, every year.
Our Values In Plain Language
If we strip everything back, this is what you’re actually buying into when you sponsor, enter, or support the Wigan Business Awards:
We share our work.
We share how the judging works, where the money goes and who’s involved.
If you ever want to know more, you can ask; there’s no big secrets and nothing to hide.
We keep it human because we care about the people behind the logos.
Family businesses, micro businesses, start-ups, employers who put their staff first, women stepping up into leadership, teams holding things together when life is throwing everything at them, that’s who we’re thinking about when we make decisions.
We prove our impact because it’s not enough to say “we support local business” so we track who we spend with.
We talk about the outcomes, and we share examples of suppliers, sponsors and finalists who’ve genuinely won work, collaborations, confidence and opportunities off the back of this.
We don’t always get everything perfect. But we never hide from the work.
Why We’re Saying This Out Loud
If you’re going to trust us with your brand, your time, your story, or your money, you deserve to know who’s behind it and what we stand for.
It’s a line in the sand.
You deserve to know that when we say “community”, we mean invoices raised, people hired, confidence built and proper relationships formed.
It makes us sad when the word gets banded about without any proof in the pudding, for some, it’s just another hashtag alongside borrowed logos.
Smoke and mirrors.
Pretence. No One Deserves To Get Caught Up In That.
You deserve to know that when we say the awards are independently judged and merit-based, we’re prepared to stand by that, even when it makes life harder for us.
Jayne has coordinated over 100 judges over two campaigns from across the UK! Believe us when we say ‘rather her than us!’ 🙂
We’re not playing at this; it’s not a vanity project.
It’s our livelihood, and our Children are watching.
We’re building something that lifts people up, because when we started, we needed lifting up too.
This campaign keeps money circulating locally and makes the business folk of Wigan and Leigh feel proud of what they’ve built.
That only works if we keep walking the walk.
And we fully intend to.
Join us:
For details on how to get involved with sponsorships, click HERE.
Wigan Business Awards is being held at The Edge Conference Centre in Wigan on Friday, the 6th November 2026.
