Meet our Judges

We are honoured to welcome our three esteemed judges who embody and champion the independent spirit that helps to make Dorking a wonderful place to visit, live, work, and enjoy. Our judges are experts in public policy, social entrepreneurship, media and PR. Get to know them:

Mark Carter

Mark Carter has twenty-five years of experience as a presenter, journalist and producer. Mark is currently the Acting Executive Editor of BBC Radio Sussex and BBC Radio Surrey and is one of the most recognisable voices in the area, as a presenter on both stations. Mark is in demand as an events host, from awards ceremonies to political debates. In December 2019, Mark took the lead role in his first professional pantomime. Mark lives in Surrey and was the founder of Surrey Day, an annual celebration of life in the county.

When asked to serve as a judge for the DorKing BID Community Spirit Awards, Mark said:

“The Coronation is a wonderful opportunity to come together in a celebration of local life. I’m delighted to be able to help recognise the incredible individuals and organisations that help to make Dorking a great place to live and work.”

Chris Howard

Chris Howard is president of the Surrey Hills Society, the charity she helped set up in 2008 to support Surrey’s designated landscape. She also sits on Surrey Hills Arts panel, Surrey Hills Trust Fund and is a regular contributor to the countryside pages of Surrey Life magazine and writes their monthly walks article. She has also written the Surrey edition of “Walks For All Ages”. She is also a vice president for the Surrey Association of Local Councils and a Trustee of Surrey Wildlife Trust. She previously had a career in town centre management and economic development within the local authority sector.

Jarmila Yu

Jarmila Yu is the Founder and MD at YUnique Marketing Ltd. The Surrey based marketing consultancy works with Founders and CEOs to unlock their marketing potential to successfully launch, grow and transform their business. Jarmila is a globally ranked Top100 CMO, Chartered Marketer, multi award-winning businesswoman and proud mum. She’s on a business mission to bring the CMO Advantage™, traditionally only enjoyed by large corporates, to the pioneering purpose-driven Entrepreneurs and CEOs in Start-ups & SMEs.

The big picture for her business is to see the SMEs that are the backbone of UK PLC enabled to prosper; as that will create better, more rewarding jobs, drive economic growth, and ultimately deliver a better world. Often invited to share her insights on marketing, business transformation and the world of work at events and in the media, she champions entrepreneurship and marketing talent. She enjoys forging strong links between business and education, and actively supports her home county of Surrey. Jarmila Chairs the IoD’s Surrey branch, the Business Women in Surrey Group, the Board of Advisors at The School of Business & Management at Royal Holloway, and the DMA’s Talent Council; she is also the Local Leader for Surrey for Enterprise Nation.

On being asked to judge the Dorking BID Community Spirit Awards Jarmila said:

“I’m absolutely delighted to support the Dorking BID Community Spirit Awards and I look forward to judging the entries. There’s never been a more important time to showcase the quality, diversity and creativity of local enterprise, I already know it’s not going to be easy picking just a handful of winners from all the entrants. Dorking and its BID area serves as a great example of what’s on offer in our fabulous county of Surrey. To have the business awards as part of the King’s Coronation local celebrations is something all business should be proud of.”

YUnique Marketing Ltd:

YUnique Marketing Ltd is an award-winning strategic marketing consultancy founded in 2016 by Jarmila Yu. Its mission is to bring strategic marketing excellence within reach of ambitious entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs, not just large corporations. The team provides the full spectrum of marketing services, ranging from basic brand and website work to a complete outsourced marketing function, crucially all led from a CMO’s perspective to ensure maximum impact. Their services are provided on a bespoke on-demand basis, hence ensuring both time and cost-effectiveness supporting business leaders to launch, grow or transform their business. https://yuniquemarketing.com/

Press Kit

We offer dedicated support to our Community Spirit applicants, nominees, finalists and winners. We take an omni-channel approach to press and include traditional and social media channels to achieve meaningful press coverage for our campaign and participants. All press enquiries should be directed to Kathy at info@dorkingtownpartnership.co.uk.