The UKFast Digital Entrepreneur Awards

In November 2009, pioneers of the modern internet were brought together from all over the country to celebrate the UK's first annual Digital Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

To host the event, UKFast chose The Palace Hotel in Manchester and the awards were presented to eight of the Nation's top digital businesses. In comparing the fierce competition online to professional sports, the winners were presented their awards by England international rugby stars including Matthew Tait, Charlie Hodgson, Richard Wigglesworth and young up-coming star James Gaskell.

Images: From left to right: Premiership rugby stars Lee Thomas and Selorn Kuadey. Keeley and Earl Barrett. England Rugby star Matthew Tait with Alexa Nazan.

The night attracted a selection of popular faces from on and off the web. Manchester television celebrities Nikki Dean and Byron Evans, were joined by Channel M reporter Ben Bland and Big Brother's Geoff Beattie. While from the world of sport, it wasn't just rugby stars. England, Oldham and Everton football star of the nineties Earl Barrett and his wife Keeley were on hand to congratulate winners. After the awards, Entertainment was provided by Soul legends, Clem Curtis and The Foundations.

Winners of the 2009 awards include Henley's Clothing, Nick Brown of Eazyfone Group and Deloitte Fast 50 high flyers Auros.

Lawrence Jones, managing director of UKFast believes that it is important for the online world to celebrate success and excellence. "Before the Digital Entrepreneur Awards, there were no serious awards dedicated to the UK entrepreneurs pushing the boundaries of the internet and challenging the norm in their respective industries."

Awards results:
1. Retail Entrepreneur of the Year - Henleys Clothing
2. Green Innovation Entrepreneur of the Year - Historic Futures
3. Web Development Entrepreneur of the Year - Dominic Mills of Auros
4. Ecommerce Entrepreneur of the Year - Nick Brown of Eazyfone Group
5. Design and Marketing entrepreneurs of the Year - CSI Media
6. Software Innovation Entrepreneur of the Year - Chris Healy of Clever 4
7. Education Entrepreneurs of the Year - Michael Wilkinson and Steve Holt of i-education.com
8. Travel Entrepreneurs of the Year - Neil Waller and James Street of My Destination Info

Henleys Clothing - Retail Digital Entrepreneur of the Year.
Henleys Clothing is one of the country's fastest growing designer clothing brands and a strong online presence has contributed to a huge growth in turnover and profit over the last year. E-commerce manager Lynsey Emersic was at the Palace to collect the award.

"Henleysclothing.co.uk is going from strength-to-strength every day with the site generating a record high in sales and revenue last week. We expect this growth to continue into 2010 and are very excited about the future. Here at Henleys Clothing, as with our fashion range, we endeavour to keep the website at the cutting edge of technology and at the forefront of the digital world."

Historic Futures - Green Innovation Digital Entrepreneur of the Year.
String, the teams, traceability service is used by some of the world's largest brands. The capability that String gives all manufacturers and retailers has put pressure on the industry to make their supply routes transparent and in turn keep a check on their cultural and social responsibilities.

"We are extremely pleased to be recognised for the work we are doing in providing a world class innovative service to enable some of the biggest brands on the planet to gather more information from their extended supply chains. Our customers are using our services to help eliminate child labour and build sustainable supply chains around the world. It's great to be part of the solution."

Dominic Mills at Auros - Web Development Digital Entrepreneur of the Year.

Dominic Mills' web development agency appeared at 14th in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 this year. The business has grown by a whopping 3294% over the last 5 years.
"I am delighted that Auros has been recognised in the UKFast Digital Entrepreneur Awards. This recognition is testament to the dedication of Team Auros and also their drive to constantly raise the bar - both in terms of the service level that they provide and through their commitment to innovation."

Nick Brown at Eazyfone - Ecommerce Digital Entrepreneur of the Year.
Since Nick Brown and his board of Directors took charge of envirofone.com just under two years ago they have transformed a great idea into great profit. Under their guidance, sales have gone from £10.5m to £36m with profits at £3.3m. The award was collected on the night Eazyfone director Paul Graham.
Nick Brown, CEO at Eazyfone Group, said: "We're absolutely delighted to have received the title of Ecommerce Entrepreneur of the Year. Envirofone.com has proven to be an exceptional success and this accolade is testament to the pioneering vision of our management team."

CSI Media - Design and Marketing Digital Entrepreneurs of the Year
With their Travelberry software, CSI changed the shape of the travel industry online and have continued to provide compelling travel, retail and leisure websites, setting pace for the growth of the web.
"It is a great honour to receive the UKFast Design and Marketing Digital Entrepreneur of the Year Award on behalf of everyone at CSI Media. All CSI Media employees can be proud of the award which is testament to their creativity, hard effort and innovative thinking. I believe it is important that other industry leaders follow UKFast's direction in recognising the talent of UK companies shaping the web."

Chris Healy of Clever 4 - Software Innovation Digital Entrepreneur of the Year.
Chris Healy and his team have developed solutions for government, education and recruitment and are currently working on a large scale public facing project for Royal Bank of Scotland and Natwest.

"Clever4 is delighted to receive the UKFast award for software innovation. Working closely with experts like UKFast we are now able to provide our clients with technical solutions to the most exacting standards of reliability and security. We're looking forward to rolling out some very exciting web applications over the next 12 months."

Michael Wilkinson and Steve Holt of I-education - Education Digital Entrepreneurs of the Year.
Michael Wilkinson and Steve Holt set up I-education two years ago having worked with further education centres in South Yorkshire. The team is now collaborating with organisations across a multitude of sectors to deliver learning opportunities at all levels online.

"UKFast's glittering Digital Entrepreneurs of the Year Awards allow us to celebrate the exponential growth through innovation of i-education ltd. The Education Digital Entrepreneur Award demonstrates the enthusiasm we have to inspire performance."

Neil Waller and James Street of My Destination Info - Travel Digital Entrepreneurs of the Year.
My Destination Info provides the definitive word on 40 of the most popular holiday destinations across the world. In only three years, it has become the trusted portal for over 3 million users.

"Winning the Digital Entrepreneur Award for 'Travel' online is really an honour largely because of the level of competition we were up against. It has been a great year for mydestinationinfo.com and this award is the icing on the cake. It is also our first so will remain particularly memorable. A big thank you from us goes to the whole of the UKFAST team who really provide something unique for such a big business and that is the personal touch. The event was enjoyed by all and the fighting waitresses were a stroke of genius!"

Images: From left to right: Laura McGuire with Big Brother Psychologist Geoff Beattie. UKFast girls enjoy the evening. Georgie Shaw with rugby players Chris Leck and Marc Jones.

For information about the UKFast internet Awards 2006-2008, you can find a round up of the winners here.