City A.M. has today launched its prestigious Awards programme for 2016 and nominations are open. Now in their seventh year, the City A.M. Awards celebrate the best of London’s financial and business community. Judged by an independent panel of some of the most influential people living and working in the City, the City A.M. Awards are an opportunity not only to celebrate the successes of those firms and individuals who are shortlisted, but also to reflect on the strength and dynamism of the contributions made by the business community as a whole to the City and the UK economy.

The Awards ceremony will take place on Thursday 10^th November at the Grange St Paul’s hotel. The event will be hosted for the second consecutive year by the broadcaster and political journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer, who was a huge success in 2015.

New recruits to City A.M.’s revered panel of judges include Jayne-Anne Gadhia, the Chief Executive of Virgin Money, and Luke Johnson, Chairman, Risk Capital Partners. Among those returning to the panel to support City A.M. Editor Christian May are WPP Chief Executive Sir Martin Sorrell, the Founder of Nutmeg, Nick Hungerford, and Mark Kleinman, City Editor at Sky News.

To assist the judges in their decision-making, City A.M. is now seeking nominations from its readers across the following 12 categories:

1. Insurance Company of the Year

2. Accountancy Firm of the Year

3. Law Firm of the Year

4. Bank of the Year

5. Analyst of the Year

6. Dealmaker of the Year

7. Fintech Company of the Year

8. Innovative Company of the Year

9. Entrepreneur of the Year

10. Investor of the Year

11. Business of the Year

12. Personality of the Year

City A.M. readers are invited to make nominations for any or all of the above categories at the City A.M. Awards website: www.cityam.com/awards.

Commenting on the launch of the Awards, City A.M. Editor Christian May said: “The City A.M. Awards are a fantastic opportunity to recognise and celebrate some of the outstanding work done by the people and organisations on whom City A.M. reports every day. I would strongly encourage our readers to take the chance to nominate the firms and individuals that they think have made a particular impact over the past year.”

Nominations will close on 12^th August, with the shortlist due to be revealed one category at a time from 12^th September. For further information about the Awards, including how to book tickets to the ceremony, please visit www.cityam.com/awards.