Sunderland you're superb! Impressed judges have praised this year's Portfolio Awards entrants as some of the best ever

What an outstanding line-up of entries – and what a finals night it promises to be.
The Portfolio Awards judging panel, pictured at the Roker Hotel.The Portfolio Awards judging panel, pictured at the Roker Hotel.
The Portfolio Awards judging panel, pictured at the Roker Hotel.

That was the verdict after judges met to scrutinise this year’s entries in the annual Portfolio Awards.

A panel of judges gathered at the Roker Hotel to spend hours sifting through the dozens of nominations.

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The common theme was that this year’s entries were among the best there has ever been.

The judging panel for the Portfolio Awards. Picture by FRANK REIDThe judging panel for the Portfolio Awards. Picture by FRANK REID
The judging panel for the Portfolio Awards. Picture by FRANK REID

One judge said: “It is brilliant that, in every category we have looked at, it has been really hard to choose the best because the quality is so high.”

Another commented: “It is good to see that the calibre of businesses in the area is so high.”

Wearside and County Durham companies came out in force this year to submit top-class entries for the competition and we shall be revealing the shortlists in more than a dozen categories in the days to come.

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In the meantime, our thanks to go all our backers for helping to make this year’s competition a huge success.

The sponsors for this year's Portfolio Awards.The sponsors for this year's Portfolio Awards.
The sponsors for this year's Portfolio Awards.

Sunderland City Council is again our headline sponsor, and will sponsor our overall Business of the Year Award, as well as a Lifetime Achievement award, which is in the sponsor’s gift.It is also backing the contribution social enterprises make to the city in the Social Enterprise Award.Other sponsors are Gentoo, BIC, Station Taxis, Northern Rail, Stagecoach, The Bid, Station Taxis, SAFC, Utility Alliance, Northern, Bradley Hall, Sunderland College and the South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust. We thank them all for their invaluable support.

The grand finale of this year’s competition is the finals which are still to come at the Stadium of Light in early November, and we’re ready to unveil some amazing Sunderland and County Durham winners who are really helping to put the area on the map.

After that, we will have a detailed supplement containing interviews and photographs of all of our winners.

But first, watch out for our detailed rundown on the shortlists in each category which will appear in the Sunderland Echo soon.