A NEW award celebrating women in business was launch at Oakley Hall.

The Business Magazine, which is organising the inaugural Women in Business Awards 2013 is looking for women across the Thames Valley and Solent regions that have made a real difference in business over the past 12 months.

The magazine wants to hear from those who have, achieved excellence in their chosen profession, become role models for other women, gained a reputation for citizenship, through acts of charity, environmental awareness, or socially-committed work in the community and established themselves as entrepreneurs running their own business The awards, which are open to all women working in companies in the south, is being held in association with Barclays, Blake Lapthorn and Deloitte.

Awards chairman, David Murray, from The Business Magazine, said: “This is about recognising women who have succeeded in the corporate, professional and or entrepreneurial arenas.

“We want to spotlight the women who lead and who have proved to be excellent ambassadors for their gender, and an inspiration to others.”

Encouraging women to enter the awards was Lyndsey Simpson, who co-owns multi-award winning HR services company The Curve Group.

She said: “I genuinely believe there has never been a better time to be a woman in business.

“You have a social movement which is driving women to do more, to be more and to achieve higher than ever before.

“And you have a corporate driver that actually sees the commercial value of having mixed and diverse teams and wants to do something about that.”

Lyndsey called on women to leave aside fear of failure and put themselves forward for projects, to identify niche sectors where females are under-represented in order to boost career opportunities and to show more flexibility when approaching new roles.

There are three separate award categories – Women in Businesses under £10m turnover, Women in Businesses over £10m turnover and Women Professionals.

Visit womeninbusiness.biz for details and nomination forms.

The closing date is Wednesday August 7.

The winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony on September 12, at Oakley Hall.