YOU have been pawing the ground for the start of the 2003 Evening Press Business of the Year Awards.

We know that because you have been bombarding us with letters and emails asking for details of the launch date of the most prestigious business competition in the region.

Well, now we can tell you: Launch date is next Tuesday, June 3, and if you want to know how YOU can steer your venture along the path to glory then buy that day's paper.

In it will be a special supplement dedicated to passing on details of the four-month-long battle of the businesses in which everyone is a winner. Why? Because every entrant's submission will be scrutinised for a profile story which will appear in the Evening Press and accessible via our award-winning website, www.thisisyork.co.uk which attracts three quarters of a million page impressions a month.

Because the very act of entering concentrates your mind wonderfully on where you have reached and are going on the golden road to success.

Because you want to ensure that you and your staff who have already earned your spurs, now get the laurels.

Because getting to the finals means taking part in one of the most spectacular and talked-about awards ceremonies in the whole of York and North and East Yorkshire. This year that ceremony promises to be a blockbuster because it is taking place in the massive new Ebor suite at York Racecourse

And in this, our 13th year of the competition, there will be greater opportunity to win than ever before because there are MORE categories, which means wider choice, and the process of entering will be made as quick and simple as possible.

Our theme is Light Years Ahead and you only get that way by being prepared, forearmed, ready.

So on your marks...

Updated: 10:21 Tuesday, May 27, 2003