A DYNAMIC new Cornish microbrewery scooped the top prize in a competition run by The Cornishman, West Briton and Cornish Guardian.
Rebel Brewing Company, based in Penryn, won a £10,000 advertising campaign, plus support from a mentor and a team of designers at Cornwall & Devon Media.
Lucy Roberson, founder of Guardian Equestrian in St Agnes and the inventor of a specialist horse blanket which has already achieved national recognition in the few months since its launch, picked up the second prize of £7,500 worth of advertising.
Joint third place went to The Cornish Surf Wax Company, from Perranporth; The Apple Tree Cafe near Land's End; and Aberfal Outdoor Pursuits in Falmouth, who will each be given £2,500 worth of advertising space in the three papers, as well as their website, www.thisiscornwall.co.uk.
The prizes for the Local Business Accelerators (LBA) competition were awarded at a presentation ceremony at Trelissick House in Feock, where each of the businesses were given a specialist mentor to help grow their business.
Four other shortlisted firms – Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens near Penzance, Fal Oyster Company at Mylor, Tall Ships Creamery ice cream sellers at Charlestown and Lafafa in Penzance – were given £1,000 each to spend on advertising as a runners-up prize.
Robe Lowe, managing director of Rebel, said he was delighted with the award.
"It is amazing because it is just going to launch my business at a critical point in our development," he said.
"Having this is the difference between getting there eventually and putting us out there immediately and showing the whole of Cornwall who we are and what we do.
"Even the smallest mention in the West Briton is massive for a business."
Miss Roberson, 25, who makes specialist winter horse rugs that stop horses from going through electric fences, sold her first product in October last year.
She said: "I am just so excited. It will be an amazing platform for us.
"As yet our advertising has been online but I want to reach the riders at home who read our local paper because that is what I have always done."
The team of mentors who will now look after each of the winning businesses include Kim Conchie, chief executive of Cornwall Chamber of Commerce; Simon Tregoning, managing director of Classic Cottages; Dave Meneer, director of Wolf Rock marketing; Neil Scott, BID manager at Totally Truro; Rachael Jones, founder of Fit 'N' Fun Kids and Leading Women UK; Mark Picken, managing director of marketing, PR and design agency MPad; Jean Mooney, from Truro and Penwith College; and Lucy Jones, owner of The Cornish Food Box Company and a winner of last year's LBA competition.
The Local Business Accelerators campaign is part of a nationwide initiative backed by Prime Minister David Cameron, Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King and Dragon's Den star Deborah Meaden.
It was set up to highlight how local press advertising can work to drive growth for small and medium-sized businesses.
