Grab a cuppa and tell your story! Businesses urged to take time out to enter Gosport Awards 2026
Entrepreneur James Baggot says ‘I’ve seen the elation on the faces of those talented people who have won and what it means to be recognised, but you’ve got to be in it to win it’
BUDDING businesses were today urged: Grab a cuppa and spend 10 minutes telling the story of what makes what you do so special.
The words of advice come from entrepreneur James Baggot as nominations continue to come in across the nine categories of the Gosport Business Awards 2026. And James certainly knows what he is talking about. Having set up and run a series of successful companies in the town, his most recent venture - the used car dealer Clever Car Collection - has already won three national awards this year for customer service.
James, who was guest speaker at last year’s awards, said: ‘Winning an award is a huge testament to the hard work you and all your team put into running your business and we’re super proud of our accolades this year. Often, when we’re all busy in the trenches doing the job day-in day-out it’s hard to find the time to enter awards, but it’s vital.
‘I’ve seen the elation on the faces of those talented people who have won a Gosport Business Award and what it means to them to be recognised, but you’ve got to be in it to win it and that means getting a nomination in.
‘My advice would be: Take 10 mins over a cup of tea and tell the story of what makes your business special. You never know that could be enough to get you a winners’ trophy. These days AI models are looking for firms with accolades to recommend to customers too, so getting yourself into the mix could be more important than ever.'
So far in 2026, James’ used car showroom has won Auto Trader Highly Rated, Cargurus Top Rated and Carwow Top Rated gongs for the way the firm looks after its customers.
And there are a host of top prizes up for grabs in the Gosport Business Awards 2026. Now in their third year they are run by The News in association with headline sponsors StandardAero UK and partners St Vincent Sixth Form College, Gosport Borough Council and the Powder Monkey Group.
They are free to enter for businesses across the borough and the winners - including one overall champion - will be unveiled at a celebration evening at the college's Jervis Gallery on Thursday, November 26.
With small businesses accounting for 98% of all businesses in Gosport, more opportunities have been created this year for local enterprises to be recognised, with the hotly-contested Independent Small Business of the Year award divided into three categories for those businesses with less than 10 employees.
The categories are:
- Independent Small Business of the Year for:
- Retail, hospitality and consumer-facing
- Personal care, lifestyle and community
- Creative, technical and professional
- Commitment to Supporting Talent in Business
- Start-up Business of the Year
- Independent Retail Business of the Year
- Community Contribution Award
- Independent Cultural and Creativity Business of the Year
- Independent Tourism/Hospitality Business of the Year
- Overall Business Award (selected from winners of the above)
For more details and to enter go to https://www.gosport.gov.uk/GosportBusinessAwards
If you are interested in supporting the continued success of the awards as a sponsor you can learn more about opportunities by emailing [email protected]