The Allianz Business to Arts Awards has seen a phenomenal jump in entries for this year's awards. There has been a total increase of 55 per cent in nominations compared to 2007. The most popular category was Corporate Social Responsibility with a total of 33 entries. This category is a new category for 2008 but has already attracted much interest from both business and arts organisations alike.

Galway had a number of entries for the awards and the shortlist will be announced in the coming weeks. Entries included: TG4 and Fibin Teo; Galway Film Fleadh & INBEV Ireland (Dublin); Snap Printing/ Konnect Media & Baboró International Arts Festival for Children; Barons Self Storage & Human Resources (Clare); Clada Group Ltd. & Macnas/ Galway Arts Festival; Coca Cola and Huston School of Film and Digital Media.

All the nominations together represent a total investment of over €6 million from businesses in the arts. This is a very high figure considering that the nominations are only a snapshot of the ongoing relationships between Businesses and the Arts. Other popular categories for the awards were sponsorship of an event and creativity in business, which has thrown up some very interesting and unique case studies.

The shortlist for nominations will be released at the start of May and the ceremony itself will take place in June in the RDS.

Commenting on the increase in nomination,s Stuart McLoughlin CEO of business to arts said, "We were delighted with the increase in the number of entries for this year. Business to Arts is actually celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year and we had made some significant changes to the Awards categories. However, it seems to have paid off with the new categories such as CSR and Creativity in Business driving a majority of the nominations. We look forward to announcing the short list and also to the event in June which promises to be a spectacular event in keeping with the Business to Arts ethos."

Also commenting on the increase, Brendan Murphy CEO of Allianz said, "We are delighted with the uptake of nominees this year which highlights the value that businesses place in the arts. The competition goes from strength to strength and the increase in entries this year further highlights this."

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