United And Wonga Shortlisted For Award

Newcastle United and its principal sponsor, Wonga.com, have been shortlisted for a prestigious BT Sport Industry Award alongside some of the UK's biggest sporting institutions and brands.

The partnership between the Club and the digital finance company, which officially began in July 2013, has been nominated as part of the Best Sponsorship of a Team or Individual category following a wide range of activities across the last eight months.

As well as purchasing the stadium naming rights to return it to St. James' Park, Wonga has invested £1.5million into the Club's Academy to nurture the next generation of Tyneside's footballing talent, and has continued to work closely with the Magpies and their supporters.

Initiatives have included the Wonga Away Day, which saw the company charter a private jet for supporters to travel to United's 2-1 victory at Cardiff City.

In addition to being part of the Newcastle United Fans Forum, Wonga also stepped in with a significant donation for the reinstallation of the St. James' Park gates, completing a project initiated by independent supporters' coalition NUFC Fans United and the Magpie Group.

The partnership between Wonga and Newcastle United is in illustrious company in the Best Sponsorship of a Team or Individual category.

Also shortlisted are adidas' separate sponsorships of Chelsea and British tennis star Andy Murray, BMW's 'The Ultimate Performance' campaign with England Rugby and the British and Irish Lions' partnerships with both Microsoft UK and formal outfitter Thomas Pink.

The winners will be announced at the star-studded BT Sport Industry Awards ceremony in London on Thursday, 8th May.

A total of 15 sports are represented on the shortlist by a host of brands, teams, agencies and organisations collectively responsible for the finest commercial performance that British sport has had to offer over the past 12 months.

Newcastle United are one of a number of leading football clubs on the shortlist alongside Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

Nick Keller, chairman of the Sport Industry Group, said: "It has been a transformative year for British sport from a media, marketing and sponsorship perspective, and the wide range of sports on the shortlist is also testament to the strength in depth of the industry.

"The standard and volume of work entered to the BT Sport Industry Awards this year means being named on this shortlist is an absolutely stellar achievement."

The Official Shortlist was selected through an extensive Steering Process involving 50 key industry figures and more than 60 hours of intensive judging, fully overseen by Deloitte, the Official Independent Scrutineers of the BT Sport Industry Awards.

The Official Shortlist will now go forward for consideration by a main judging panel, who will decide the winners in each category. Made up of leaders from across the sport industry and the wider business world, each judge brings to bear years of expertise in a particular field, as well as their wider industry perspective.

More information on the judging panel and the overall judging process can be found at www.sportindustry.biz.