SMALL and medium companies in Worcestershire have just one month left to enter this year's prestigious E-Commerce Awards.

To date, 65 companies from the region have already completed entry forms for a chance to win a regional first prize of £5,000 and a grand prize of £30,000 in the national final.

However, time is running out and companies are urged to get their application forms in before the deadline on Friday, May 18.

"Some excellent entries have come in so far and we hope that many more small businesses will seize the opportunity to fill out a simple application form," said Jenny Searle, director of UK Online for Business.

"As long as they beat the deadline, companies are in with a great chance of winning a regional or even the national cash prize. We are keen to recognise and reward those firms who have changed the way they do business by introducing new technologies, whether it is through a dedicated web site, or integrating e-commerce into supply chain and other back office systems."

The awards were set up by UK Online for Business - a partnership between industry and Government - and InterForum and celebrate best practice in the use of electronic business among companies with fewer than 250 employees in the UK.

Regional sponsors for the awards are IBM UK, while national sponsors are the Royal Bank of Scotland and Cisco Systems.

There will be 11 heats across the UK and this year, there will be an additional award for companies just starting out.

The E-Business Start-up Award, sponsored by Sun Microsystems and Computacentre, is a national competition which has an overall prize of £10,000 in cash and £10,000 for equipment.

Entries for the awards can be made via the dedicated website www.ecommerce-awards.co.uk or by calling the UK online for business Infoline on 0845 7152000.