The Digital Entrepreneur Awards have been postponed in the wake of allegations surrounding Lawrence Jones, CEO and co-founder of the event’s main backer, UKFast.
Jones announced last week that he had stepped down as CEO of the Manchester-based cloud computing firm following allegations reported by the Financial Times concerning sexual misconduct.
The awards, which were in their 15th year, had been due to take place at The Principal Hotel in Manchester on November 21st.
They aim to champion business innovation and digital entrepreneurship and a shortlist had already been announced across 21 categories.
However, a spokesperson for the event confirmed: “The Digital Entrepreneur Awards have been postponed. All finalists and partners were contacted last week.”
In a statement released through his lawyer last week, Jones said he would “take a leave of absence” and continued to maintain that the allegations were “false and malicious”.
Joint managing director Gail Jones, who is Jones’s wife and co-founder of the £53m-turnover company, has taken on chief executive responsibilities.
