THERE'S been a bumper entry crop for this year's Daily Echo-backed Hampshire Business Awards, with its mixture of big names and up-and-coming companies from across the county involved.

An initial review of entries, has revealled that companies from a range of geographical locations and industry sectors are taking part.

Now the expert judges will visit all the entrants.

They are trying to whittle them down to a shortlist of three for each of the three awards - the Bond Pearce Innovation Award, the KPMG Company of the Year and the RBS International Trade Award.

Tony Cottam of KPMG, said: "At this stage it's a difficult job narrowing down all the excellent entries we have, but it looks set to be a great contest."

Mark Price of RBS said: "The standard of entries for all this year's awards is a great indication of the health of the economy in Hampshire. We've been hugely impressed by the way that the county's businesses have been continuing to demonstrate their increasing influence across the globe."

Nick Page, partner at Bond Pearce, said: "We have heard from a wide variety of companies, which illustrates the rich depth of innovative minds we have in the county.

Entries range from a new cosmetic firm taking on the established names, a provider of high-tech solutions in the forensics market, through to a company which develops state-of-the art touch sensors, to name but a few."

The winners of this year's Hampshire Business Awards will be announced at a black tie dinner on Thursday 13th September at Action Stations, the interactive visitor showcase for the modern Royal Navy in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.