A private drinks reception for finalists in the 20th annual Dorset Business Awards will be held next week.

The reception, which will be held at the Guildhall in Poole, will celebrate the achievements of the finalists in the awards, which are organised by the Dorset Chamber of Commerce and Industry and backed by the Dorset Echo.

It has been a record-breaking year for the awards, with huge numbers of businesses nom-inated. They have now been whittled down to three shortlisted in each category.

The reception will provide finalists with the opportunity to meet their award category sponsors and the other shortlisted finalists in their categories.

Dorchester-based Allum & Sidaway, which also has four other shops – in Shaftesbury, Gillingham, Ringwood and Salisbury – has been nominated in two categories at the awards.

They will be up against retail giants Animal and River Island in the Retail Experience Award, sponsored by the Dolphin Shopping Centre, and they have also been nominated in the Princecroft Willis Family Business Award.

They will also compete against Crest Pumps Limited from New Milton and fellow West Dorset business, RJ Balson & Son, the butchers based in Bridport.

Weymouth-based Permavent has also been nominated in the awards in the Excellence in Innovation category, sponsored by DCCI and Liz Lean PR, and will compete with Wessex Internet and The TwinsFX, based in Poole.

It rounds off a good year for the firm, which has its offices on the Granby Industrial Estate, as it was recently awarded the Queen’s award for Enterprise Innovation.

Steve Makin, director at Permavent, said: “It’s nice to be recognised within the local business comm-unity in what has been a very good year for us.

“We have had a change of direction in the company because our market has been very difficult over recent years, and we have gone from a company that was struggling to survive in a declining market to being a leader in an emerging market.”

The Gala Dinner Awards Ceremony, sponsored by Wave 105, will take place at the Bournemouth International Centre on November 27.

Other prize categories

Coleman Insurance Brokers, Coles Miller Solicitors and Freshleaf Media Limited will compete for the Business Engagement with the Community Award.

IADigital, Joh Thai Tapas and The Training Room will compete in the Business Growth Award, and in the Dorset Export Award, Kite Clothing Limited, Micro Nav Limited and Think Research LTD will compete with each other.

Sophie Christy, managing director at Diamond Sporting Group, Trelawney Dampney from Eco Sustainable Solutions and Paul Tansey from Intergage Poole will compete for the Entrepreneur of the Year Award and in the Hays Employee of the Year Award, Jeanette Yorke from the Borough of Poole, Richard Halsey from C4L and Paul Clarke from Menzies East Cliff Court Hotel are nominated.

In the Customer Service Awards, Health-on-line, Kingswood Day Nursery and Poole Housing Partnership have all been nominated.