Voting for this year's Woman of the Year is now closed - the winner will be announced on July 2

HERE are your finalists in our search for Merseyside’s Women of the Year.

Since the awards were launched in April, the Daily Post has received a flood of nominations for women in the fields of business, public service, the community and arts and entertainment.

The judging panel has whittled these down to a list of 25 names with 11 categories in total including entrepreneur, women achieving, arts and culture and learning.

Daily Post readers will vote for the winner of the most prestigious title of all - Merseyside Woman of the Year 2010 - by emailing their vote.

The awards, sponsored by the Daily Post, is now in its eighth year and firmly established in the region’s calendar.

Last year’s overall winner was dietitian Maura O’Donnell who had invested her own money in the Brunswick Business Park based company Vitaflo which last year had a turnover of more than £12m and employed 40 people. She had also been involved in raising more than £26,000 to build a school in Uganda.

A special award also went to Marie McCourt for 15 years of tireless work for SAMM – Support After Murder and Manslaughter.

This year’s ceremony will be held on July 2 at the Hilton Hotel in Liverpool One.

Proceeds will be shared between Wirral Autistic Society and the Merseyside Police and High Sheriffs Charitable Fund.

Voting starts from today June 1 until Tuesday June 15.

This year's finalists>>