Even winners have tough times, especially in a situation as unprecedented as Covid.

None of the people who went up on stage so proudly last year to collect their Awards for Excellence could have foreseen what was coming their way just months later.

We have been checking in with all of last year’s winners of the Isle of Man Newspapers event to see how they have fared in an extraordinary year.

Ben Drewry won the award for Small Medium Enterprise for his men’s hairdressing and grooming business.

Small Medium Enterprise is always a hotly contested category, partly because so many successful businesses in the island qualify for it in terms of size. Win this one and you know you’ve done well.

Hairdressing had a particularly tough time during the worst of the pandemic and Ben’s two shops, both called Drewry’s, along with every other salon and barber’s shop, were ordered to close for several months, with no income coming in and rents and other expenses continuing to rack up.

As they came out of lockdown, Ben took the sensible decision to close his salon at Tynwald Mills and regroup at his original Douglas shop in Duke Street.

Now, a few months later, he says: ’We’re absolutely flying again. We’ve gone from strength to strength and we’re fully booked two months in advance, every day of the week.’

One thing which Ben says has undoubtedly been helpful is Drewry’s online booking system which he has had in place for five years now. It has meant that he has never had to employ a receptionist to answer the phone and take bookings which clearly meant one less member of staff to worry about during lockdown.

Ben says all his clients have become quite used to booking online and he has noticed other salons copying the idea.

’It’s nice to see we’re inspiring others. In a situation [like this year] we have to help each other and stick together.’

Another plus for his business has been his own range of men’s grooming products which he developed and was selling online before the pandemic.

One of his targets for 2021 is to move to being a zero waste salon using recycled plastics for his products.

And then of course there are his stylists who were also forced to sit out the lockdown at home: ’Without those guys I’d have really struggled to get back on top of what we’d lost as quickly as we have.’

Could you be a winner this year? There are a lot of new categories to enter, offering lots of opportunity for businesses of all sizes, individuals, charitable and cultural organisations and public sector teams.

See www.excellence-awards.im