UK entrepreneurs given a right royal reason to enter Britain’s biggest small business competition

June 1, 2012 - PRLog -- The entry deadline for The Pitch 2012, offering £50,000 worth of business support as well as a cash prize funded by the public, has been extended until 5 June.

Organised by http://www.BusinessZone.co.uk in association with digital services company Yell, The Pitch has been celebrating the best of British business since 2008.

With the UK preparing to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this weekend, organisers have extended the application deadline to allow more British business owners to get involved.

Entrepreneurs need to apply at by 11.59pm on Tuesday 5 June.

Once entries close, judges will select small business owners from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales to compete at The Pitch Live in Liverpool in October.

During that event, the audience will select one competitor who will receive a cash prize made up of all the proceeds of ticket sales.

Four finalists will proceed to the grand final at London’s Ministry of Sound nightclub in November where the overall champion will win £50,000 worth of business support including money-can’t-buy mentoring from serial entrepreneur Karen Darby.

Darby started energy price comparison service in 2008 and sold it for £25m four years later.

Dan Martin, editor of BusinessZone.co.uk and founder of The Pitch, says: “The Pitch 2012 is all about the best of British business, so as the UK comes over all patriotic this weekend to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, we’re extending the application deadline to cover the extra time off.

“Our Scottish winner was crowned overall champion last year but in 2012, Northern Ireland has the chance to become the home of Britain’s best small business. We encourage all Northern Irish entrepreneurs to get involved!”

Small business owners can enter The Pitch 2012 at http://www.thepitchuk.com/enter-the-pitch

Tickets for The Pitch Live are on sale for £10 each at http://www.thepitchuk.com/content/pitch-live

The full list of prizes is at http://www.thepitchuk.com/prize-package

Media contact:
Meg Pope
0117 915 9614
meg.pope@siftmedia.co.uk

Notes to editors

Follow The Pitch and BusinessZone on Twitter:
@the_pitch      
@businesszone
#thepitch12

The Pitch is a Sift Media event, in association with Yell. The Pitch is sponsored by ICAEW and Crunch.

About Sift Media
Sift Media is a leading business-to-business publisher specialising in online professional communities and face-to-face business events.

With a range of services including websites, email publications, industry awards and exhibitions, Sift Media delivers original, branded content to over half a million professionals every month, across small business, finance, accounting, HR and training, IT, marketing, customer management and knowledge management.

About BusinessZone.co.uk
BusinessZone.co.uk is Sift Media’s online publication for entrepreneurs providing free, practical and no-nonsense advice on how to start and grow a successful business.

About Yell
Yell Group is a leading provider of digital services within the emerging local eMarketplace for consumers and SMEs across its operations in the UK, US, Spain and some countries in Latin America.

Building on its strong presence in the local market through its current digital and print portfolio, Yell is developing a broad range of digital services tailored to the converging needs of SMEs and consumers.

These address both the SMEs’ need to grow, transact and be efficient in the digital world, and the consumers’ need to connect locally to the goods and services they want, in a way which saves them time and money, and moves their lives forward.

In the year ended 31 March 2011, Yell Group had 1.3 million SME customers.
http://www.yellgroup.com

Twitter:
@YellPressOffice
@YellBusiness