Judging Process

All entries will be acknowledged by the Otago Chamber of Commerce.  By submitting an entry the entrant authorises the Chief Executive of the Chamber to provide a copy of the application and all supporting documents to the judging panel.

Judges are carefully selected for their business skill and knowledge. Any conflicts of interest are established at the beginning of the process. The judging process for the Westpac Otago Business Awards will proceed in three stages.

The first stage is the initial assessment of the entry by the Judging Panel and Awards Co-ordinator.  The judges may contact your business to clarify any details on your entry or to gain any additional information.  The judges reserve the right to reassign entries into alternative categories, if they determine this to be appropriate upon considering your entry.  The judges reserve the right to decide on the number of finalists for each award based on the quality of entrants.

In stage two all finalists will be interviewed by the judges, who will drill down in more detail on the entry and gain an overall impression of the business. This interview will take up to two hours.  The interviews will be conducted in late September 2020.

There may be a third stage where the judges meet with the business for a site visit or a specialist judge may visit. At this point there will be further scrutiny to financials, staff and any further detailed information. Judges may request customers or suppliers information to gain feedback, and may ask to involve staff.  At this stage, the organisers may also arrange filming the business in preparation for presentation at the awards evening.

The entire judging panel consider the finalists and have input into the Westpac Otago Business of the Year supreme award.

The winners will be announced at the Westpac Otago Business Awards ceremony and dinner* on 13 November 2020.  All finalists are expected to attend the dinner.

*Click here for more details about gala dinner