After two weeks of suspense, the winners of the Shepton Innovator Business Awards 2020 have been announced.

A selection of more than 20 finalists from Shepton Mallet and the surrounding villages was whittled down to just one winner in each of the eight categories of award.

The winners for this year are as follows:

New Business

• The Somerset Bicycle Workshop

Hospitality

• The George Inn

Food and Drink Producers

• Denela's Bakery

Retail

• My Coffee Stop

Manufacture and Small Production

• SRM Carver and Son

Wellbeing and Leisure

• The Movement Gym

Arts, Culture and Heritage

• The Art Bank

Innovator of the Year

• The Somerset Bicycle Workshop

The awards were a new initiative from Shepton Mallet Town Council and were quickly prepared after the announcement was made that the Mendip Businesses Awards had been cancelled.

The plan for the awards was put together in just two weeks before being announced to the public. Crucially, the entire process needed to be able to operate under lockdown conditions.

Business owner, Erica Pease - owner of the Shepton Mallet women's only gym Studio 37 - was instrumental in getting the project off the ground thanks to her previous experience of running online awards.

Everything from the nomination process, to the voting system, the promotion of the event and the award ceremony were all conducted online.

Equally important to the whole process were the five judges who donated their time to review the nominations and cast their votes.

Alan Stone, chairman of the Shepton Mallet Chamber of Commerce and one of the five judges, said: "The Shepton Mallet Innovator Awards have been like a breath of fresh air after the stagnant hiatus of Covid.

"Lots of new entrants to business awards showing inventiveness and creativity in Shepton Mallet and the surrounding villages. Let's hope we can all keep supporting these businesses."

There was just one category which was voted on by councillors, the Innovator of the Year. This category recognised the efforts of businesses that had gone over and above the rest to serve their community during lockdown.

Cllr Garfield Kennedy was one of the councillors to vote for the winner and he said: "With more than 90 entries in all, choosing the Innovator of the Year was never going to be an easy task.

"So many of our local businesses, big and small, reached out to our community in innovative ways during lockdown, and we should be proud of them all.

"The final choice is simply acknowledging a wealth of service to our community by the many companies that took part in our very first Shepton Innovators Business Awards."

The town council will review the process and feedback received to consider whether the initiative should be repeated again in future.

Anyone who would like to comment on their experience of taking part in the awards, either as a business or someone making a nomination, can email the town council at [email protected].