Businesszone.co.uk’s The Pitch, the UK’s biggest and longest running business pitching competition, has opened the 2011 application process with a twist this year that’s sure to provoke furious competition across all the Home Nations.

For the first time, The Pitch is going to be holding its preliminary heats in each of the Home Nations, with the national champions going on to compete in a grand final for a £50,000 prize package, and the title of the UK’s Best New Business.

The Pitch Home Nations, in association with marketing solutions business Yell, will see national heats held in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast and London over the summer. Entrepreneurs will be invited to come and pitch their business idea to a panel of expert judges, in front of a live audience.

Each event will comprise a live half-day conference and networking event, aiming to provide support and guidance to local business owners and entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs can find out more about the competition and submit their entry by visiting www.ThePitch2011.com.

The Pitch has grown every year since its inception in 2008, and has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs make invaluable business contacts, gain access to expert advice and supplied free business insight to hundreds of thousands of small business owners across Britain, holding live events in a score of major UK cities.

This is a great opportunity for start-up business owners and entrepreneurs to gain presentation experience and feedback, while getting expert advice on their business strategy, but that’s not all, the content of the live events is designed to be practically applicable to common key issues of running a business, and the publicity associated with the competition has given many former entrants a much-needed boost.

The winner of The Pitch 2010 Ben Atkinson-Willes, founder of Active-Minds and inventor of a series of products designed to help people in dementia care stay mentally active, says:

“Being involved with The Pitch 2010 was a great, if slightly nerve-wracking, experience from start to finish. It was brilliant to meet experts like Doug Richard and Julie Meyer and get first hand advice from them. The publicity it generated for my business was phenomenal and the contacts I’ve made have proved incredibly useful. I would recommend getting involved in the 2011 competition to any entrepreneur.”