A nod to arty Katie's vision

Katie Craven, who runs Katie Craven Illustrations, has been nominated in the Enterprise Vision Awards (EVAs).The Longridge 27-year-old will stand in the Creative Industry Awards.Each finalist will now face a panel of judges before the winners will be announced on Friday, September 23, at an awards ceremony held at Blackpool Winter Gardens.Katie, who studied at Runshaw College, designs prints for a range of mediums and has her own homeware range in Asda. Her excellent work has already gained her a Victor Watson Trophy, which she picked up this week at the House of Commons.She said: “I am really happy and excited for the ceremony. I feel really lucky to be nominated.“My business is one year old and I have already won a Victor Watson trophy, which recognises outstanding achievement of a young person in the printing industry.“It would mean a lot to me and my business to win the EVA award too.“It would mean all my hard work has paid off.”Launched back in 2011, the EVAs provide women across the North West with the opportunity to be recognised for their achievements in business. Heather Waters, regional enterprise manager of headline sponsor NatWest, said: “It’s our fourth year of being the headline sponsor of the EVAs, and we are proud to support these awards as well as being involved in the judging process. “It’s always inspiring to see the quality of women-led businesses based in the North West. “Supporting women in business is part of NatWest’s Enterprise Strategy across the UK and we are pleased to have over 30 front line Business Banking staff in the North of England with Charter Bank accreditation in Women in Business. We look forward to this year’s awards ceremony and celebrating with the winners.”Coral Horn, founder of the Pink Link Ladies networking group and organiser of the EVAs, said: “The hard work starts now for all these ladies but for me, it’s the best bit. “Seeing the businesses come in and pitch to the judges is great, a lot of effort is put in and all the judges have some very tough decisions to make.“We’ve a wide range of entrants from across the North West so it really shows how far the EVAs has come since it first started in 2011. “The awards really do shine a light on those that have a passion and the determination to make a real difference to their business.”The EVAs judging process is a mix of public nomination with a stringent round of judging and an interview with a panel of highly regarded business professionals. Public votes can be cast at http://www.enterprisevisionawards.co.uk. The public votes form a minority share and are graded before being combined with the judges’ scores to choose the overall winner.