HOPEFUL candidates will find out shortly whether they have been successful in a competition to win free advertising and mentoring support.

Businesses from a number of different sectors entered the competition, run by The Press as part of a national campaign organised by the Newspaper Society.

The judges will now consider the entries and will publish the shortlist in the Business Press Monthly supplement, to be published in The Press on December 4.

Then shortlisted candidates will go forward to pitch their business ideas to The Press’s appointed “Dragons”, Dr Paul Gibson, chief executive of PureNet; Katie Stewart, head of economic development at City of York Council and Stephen Kennedy, former chief operation officer of CPP and a board member of Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership.

Up to three winners will be chosen to receive free advertising within The Press and free mentoring from the Dragons.

One winner will be put forward into a national competition, with prizes including a year’s mentoring with Deborah Meaden from BBC’s Dragons’ Den, £10,000 in cash, an advertising campaign designed by a London advertising agency and much more.

Among the latest entrants into the competition are Rich Cadden, who owns Thai boxing gym Chokdee Academy in York.

Rich said he hoped to expand the gym, which also houses Yumi Mummy Fitness, a business run by Rich’s wife, Jo Cadden, which provides fitness classes tailored specifically for mums with young babies.

Rich, a former Thai boxing champion, said he also hoped to further integrate his mind coaching business into the academy and offer more classes for children.

He said: “I want to make more of the mind coaching and doing the life coaching profiling work to help people that want to improve their performance by improving their internal dialogue and linking that with the physical development.”

Derrick Austin, of Haxby, is also hoping to win the prizes to help with the launch of his online property search business, PropertyMarket.com, and The DIY Training Centre, on Carr Street, Selby, which provides woodcarving classes and now does corporate days, has also entered the competition.