Tickets are on sale for a celebration of the heroes and businesses that helped carry Dartford through the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Dartford Business Awards is returning after a challenging few years for local firms hit hard by the pandemic. Award sponsors including Bluewater, Amazon and North Kent College are among those helping to celebrate the efforts of the local business community and Dartford Borough Council has created a special Covid Heroes category to thank the many services who worked tirelessly to support local people under unprecedented pressure.

Falklands War veteran Simon Weston CBE will be guest hosting the evening at Bluewater on October 13th and tickets are now on sale from Dartford Borough Council.

Leader of the Council Jeremy Kite MBE said: “It’s an honour to have Simon Weston attending the Dartford Business Awards and it’s particularly appropriate since we are marking the contribution of so many heroes who helped us through the pandemic. For the first time, the Dartford Business Awards will be dedicating a number of awards to the services who did so much for Dartford in such a dark time. From nurses to bus drivers, cleaners to refuse collectors, there are so many people to thank, and we’ll be doing our level best to recognise them all on the evening.

“Local businesses are part of the wider community and this year we want to acknowledge the way so many people and organisations pulled together during the pandemic.” 

Dartford Borough Council is organising the awards with several core partners, sponsors and local ambassadors. There are a number of different awards categories; all of which are free to enter and designed to cater for every size of business, from the smallest to the largest in the borough. 

This year’s categories are:

  • Best Owner-Managed Business;
  • Employee of the Year;
  • Young Person of the Year;
  • Customer’s Choice
  • Shop of the Year 
  • Covid Heroes 

The deadline for applications has now been extended until Monday 3rd October for businesses to enter. Entrants and winners can expect to receive a number of business-building benefits, such as promotion through media and networking opportunities. To enter your business into the Dartford Business Awards, you must be based in the Dartford Borough Council business rates areas, and must have been trading for a full year to January 1st, 2022. 

Entrants and visitors can find more information at www.dartfordbusinessawards.com, or contact businessawards@dartford.gov.uk to find out more. They can also follow the awards on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dartfordbusinessawards/or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Dartford_Biz

The awards ceremony takes place on October 13th at Bluewater Shopping Centre, with tickets at £20 each (or £150 for a table of 10) available to purchase now via www.dartford.gov.uk/tickets

This year’s Dartford Business Awards are sponsored by:

Amazon – Bluewater Shopping Centre – Dartford Borough Council – Dartford Living – Europa Worldwide Group – LAT Apprenticeships – Leigh Academies Trust – Made in Kent Radio – North Kent College – Oxford Innovation Space – The Learning Shop – The Nucleus Business & Innovation Centre – Thomson Snell & Passmore – Urbaser