The first ceremony will take place in the Holte Suite at Aston Villa Football Club in Birmingham on Thursday, October 30th.

The association’s David Dyke says: “The skills and creativity of the sign industry in the UK deserve recognition and the BSGA Council has decided that, as the UK’s principal sign trade organisation, it should undertake to produce an awards event that will do justice to the industry. We believe the BSGA is the right organisation to create sign awards that have real value and meaning.

“We are determined to provide a showcase for everything that is good in the UK industry and, while we will organise the awards, they are open to all sign-makers in the UK.

“We encourage all sign-makers who feel they have produced outstanding work to enter for an award. Judging will be by a carefully selected industry panel and will be independent of the BSGA.”

BSGA director David Catanach said the association had a close involvement with the awards events held from 2001 to 2008 at venues such as The Botanical Gardens in Birmingham and the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. Catanach says: “The earlier events proved to be a high point in the sign industry calendar and we have asked the original organiser to work with us to help produce and stage our new awards. Together, we are determined to create an event that will offer the same level of excitement and enjoyment as the earlier occasions.”

“We have decided to start the ball rolling with a gala lunchtime awards ceremony,” continues David Catanach. “This will enable us to re-establish the awards while providing a memorable event for everyone involved. However, the costs of attending will make the event accessible to everyone in the sign industry. Tickets will be reasonably priced and, unless they want to, nobody needs to stay overnight, meaning that time away from work is minimised.

“We plan to have a fairly extravagant lunch with a keynote speaker followed by the awards ceremony and entertainment and there will also be time and space for essential networking.”

Awards will be presented in a total of ten categories and the judging will be undertaken by a completely independent panel of judges say the BSGA.

For those interested in the venue, the ground is the home of Aston Villa football club where the Midlanders have played association football since 1897. The team have won the European Cup, the FA Cup seven times and the old first division championship seven times but not the current top flight which they joined when it was formed in 1992. Claret and blue are the team’s traditional colours.