The supreme winner at the last Wānaka Business Excellence Awards is encouraging local businesses to put themselves forward and enter this year.

Matt Williams, the director and regional manager at Bachelor McDougall Consulting (BMC) which won the supreme award in 2022, says the hardest part is making the decision to enter.

“We found the hardest part was actually putting ourselves forward for the award in the first place, and once you get over that and decide to do it the rest is easy,” he said.

The 2022 awards were the first time BMC had entered any awards and Matt said the experience has been hugely beneficial for the company.

“It reaffirmed that the journey we were on was the right one,” Matt said.

“Our advice is just to do it.”

Wānaka Business Chamber general manager Glenn Peat said the awards are an opportunity for businesses to celebrate.

“It’s time to celebrate the wins your business has had over the last couple of years,” he said.

"We've worked hard to rework the awards to make them fit for purpose for all businesses."

Glenn said each category has an average of six questions to ensure the entry process is concise and not time-consuming.

"It is a simple process. We've tried to streamline it as much as possible - there is still a robust set of questions but it is achievable," Glenn said.

Entries to the Wānaka Business Excellence Awards close on August 6 and Glenn said he can see a lot of entries in progress on the awards platform.

“We're expecting a large influx of submissions during this last week,” he said.

Entries can be submitted here.

Listen to Matt on The Outlet Podcast.

PHOTO: The Film Crew