THE bulldog spirit of Worcester’s businesses during catastrophic floods has earned the city a prestigious national prize.

Worcester has been awarded a national prize for partnership work and achievement at the Association of Town and City Management (ATCM) Awards.

The ceremony was held in Dundee yesterday with the award offered in recognition for the resilience of Worcester during the floods in February.

The Army was called in because of the scale of floods which left some parts of Worcestershire cut off and Worcester’s main bridge closed to all traffic bar a shuttle bus.

The people of the city rapidly coordinated and promoted an #Open4Business campaign to prevent loss of trade as a result of “potential negative media stories” about the flooding.

Alexander Nicoll, ATCM chairman said: “It is a first to award the ATCM chairman’s prize to a place rather than a person but I have no hesitation in doing so this year. The City of Worcester as a whole community responded with vigour and in a very co-ordinated way to the storms and terrible flooding of last winter.

“The city’s Open4Business campaign was supported by all strands of the local community and underlined what human ingenuity, planning and project co-ordination can achieve even in the face of the scale of natural disaster faced by the people of Worcester during the floods."

The Worcester News carried an #Open4Business live blog on its website homepage throughout most the the campaign.

Mr Nicholl added: “Many other communities responded valiantly to what they faced but I am delighted to award the 2014 ATCM chairman’s prize to, in effect, everyone who lives and works in Worcester to acknowledge their substantial response during the floods to keep Worcester open for business.”

Adrian Field, head of Worcester Business Improvement District (BID) led the campaign which made full use of social media, said: “We are delighted that Worcester has been acknowledged for its efforts in minimising the devastating impact of the floods.

“We had great support from businesses to spread our message and the key stakeholders played a fantastic role in aiding awareness of the fact that traders were well and truly open both during and straight after the floods”

The official presentation of the award will be taking place at Worcestershire County Cricket Club at 1.30pm on Monday, June 30.