Three Bermudian women entrepreneurs have been awarded $15,000 between them to take their businesses to the next level.

Last week, `The Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World', represented by the STAR Group, honoured the local women in a ceremony held in Hamilton.

Pulp and Circumstance owner and manger Kristi Grayston lifted the first prize of $10,000, while Bermuda Bride's Nikki Begg and Zac Design owner Andrea Lopes both took away $2,500 each as runners up.

The women were asked to submit business plans and proposals of what they would do with the cash if they won. And the women were chosen among the Bermuda shortlist and asked to appear on the day - beating off stiff competition for the awards.

"It was really nerve-wracking," said wedding organiser Ms Begg. "We did not know what to expect or if we had won. There was a really big build up and we had to wait two hours to find out who had won.

"We just sat there while they gave these inspirational speeches - and then suddenly that was it and we were given the awards."

The group of international women - many arriving in their own corporate jets - were in Bermuda to honour 15 new Leading Women Entrepreneurs and as a special category had asked for local women businesswomen to submit applications for a separate set of prizes.

In the six years of the STAR Group's existence, more than 295 women from more than 50 countries have been honoured. Featured in publications such as Fortune, Forbes, and USA today, and supported by Corporate Underwriters such as IBM, American Airlines, Qantas, Christian Dior, and so on, the list of those previous honoured reads like a global Who's Who.

"There were all of these women there - the most amazing women entrepreneurs from around the world, and we had about 20 minutes to network after the ceremony - so we rolled our sleeves up and went for it," said Mrs. Grayston.

Mrs. Grayston opened her specialist stationery store Pulp and Circumstance in 1996, and opened her gift shop on Queen Street in 2000. She is keeping under wraps what she will do with her $10,000 award - and said it is a project that could take up to 18 months to complete.

"In a place as small as Bermuda, it counts to be discreet," she said. "Watch this space."

Mrs. Lopes is graphic designer who set up her own company in 1999. After working out of her bedroom for years, she recently moved to a larger house where she has converted her garage into a studio. She said she will use her portion of the money to develop her business there.

"You have to be very driven to work on your own," said Lopes. "It is not a nine to five job - you work all hours. I have a small child and another on the way, so it helps to be flexible. What you do takes on great importance when you work for yourself. You really work seven days a week - and none of us could have done it without the support we have had from our families."

She said the move helps her to be able to deal more confidently with clients in a more professional environment.

"But I really enjoyed the process of the award - it was very humbling in fact, because you had to think about what you had done, and put it down on paper and think of all the people that helped you along the way. It is not something you do very much when you work alone - to report what you do to somebody else."

Ms Begg, who started her own wedding service in 2000, agreed that the process brought them all down to Earth.

She has grand plans with the cash to open a "Wedding Library" in town next year which will allow her customers to come in and look at her wedding library which would have portfolios of every single church, beach, reception location and costs such as organist, etc.

"Rather than go and call everybody on Island, people can decide and fine tune what they want down to three or four and then go and see them. Everyone has different tastes so it will be easier for them to see what they want and go from there."

She said it will be a physical location with deep sofas "to sink into" to "really enjoy process of planning a wedding".