Kiama Business Network has been inundated with nominations for the inaugural Kiama Business Awards.

Entries closed earlier this week for the first competition which recognises and celebrates excellence across the local business community.

Everyone who submitted an entry will be invited to the Awards Ceremony at The Pavilion in Kiama on Thursday 3 July.

At the ceremony, winners will receive trophies for the seven award categories:

Outstanding Employee

Excellence in Sustainability

Outstanding New Business

Excellence in Micro Business

Excellence in Small Business

Outstanding Young Business Leader

Outstanding Business Leader (20 employees and under).

The overall Kiama business of the year will then be announced from the seven category winners.

Also, the winners in each category automatically progress as finalists to the Illawarra Business Awards later this year.

Kiama Business Network executive officer and market manager Mel Scarr said the idea for the Awards came about after Business Illawarra director Coralie McCarthy asked why Kiama did not have a competition of its own.

‘We were going to do it for next year because we had six weeks to launch ours but then we thought let's go for it and launch our own one,” Scarr said.

“So, we did. And judging by the amount of entries that we had, it's been very well received.

“We ended up with a good number of entries. We were surprised by how well it was embraced. And obviously, there was a need for it in the community by the amount of entries we got in such a short time.”

The judging period is now underway with a panel of local business leaders going through the various submissions.

Finalists for each category will be announced on Monday, 30 June in the lead-up to the awards night.

“This being our first awards, we weren't sure what to expect, but the quality of entries and the enthusiasm has exceeded all expectations,” Scarr added.

“The response has been incredible so it shows how ready our community is to celebrate local success.”

One of the strengths of the Kiama business community is its diversity from microbusinesses popping up all over the local government area to bigger, established businesses which have stood the test of time.