Voting for the Watford Service Excellence Awards will close tonight.

That means this is the last chance for readers to show their appreciation for the businesses they feel have provided outstanding service during this challenging past year.

The annual Watford BID Awards, which launched in January for its fifth year, celebrate businesses within the Business Improvement District (town centre) area that put their customers and clients first.

This year without the ability to have an awards ceremony, the BID has been asking Watford Observer readers to tell them which businesses they have been impressed by – it could be in store, where a business has had to move online but continued to deliver an amazing service, or even in cases where a business cannot operate at all they may have used social media to spread positivity in the community.

Your nominations can include businesses that continued to provide excellent customer service while operating on reduced staff, those that adapted their business model significantly to adhere to Covid rules, or those that made customers or clients feel particularly safe or demonstrated remarkable resilience.

The Service Excellence Awards provide a chance to publicly acknowledge town centre businesses at a time where many of us can’t show our appreciation to them in person.

Maria Manion, chief executive of Watford BID said: “The Service Excellence Awards have always provided a great opportunity to celebrate our businesses and allow them to feel extremely proud of their achievements.

"Although we cannot have the same format in previous years with an awards ceremony, we still believe it is more important than ever that we show our gratitude to those that have been incredibly hard working during the pandemic.

"Nominating a business may only seem a small gesture but it really does mean a lot to our businesses.”

To nominate a business, send an email to enquiries@watfordbid.co.uk, by 11.59pm on Monday, February 8. Include:

1) The name of the business

2) The address of the business

3) Why they deserve this recognition (include as much detail as possible)

4) Your name and contact details (in case further information is needed)

A judging panel will review all the entries and pick winners for each of the main business sectors operating in the BID area. The BID is also encouraging its businesses to enter individual members of staff that stand out for an Excellent Employee Award.

Winners will be announced in March.

For further information about the Watford BID Service Excellence Awards 2021 and last year’s winners, visit www.watfordbid.co.uk/excellence-awards. Alternatively, call 01923 919982 or email jill@watfordbid.co.uk.