BUSINESSMAN John Shepherd is getting the word out – after winning a free full-page full-colour advert in the Examiner.

Mr Shepherd, who heads Honley-based John Shepherd Associates Ltd, was among scores of visitors who entered the competition by putting their business cards into the hat on the newspaper’s stand at the recent Kirklees Business Conference.

Mr Shepherd’s card was the lucky one drawn after the event – and his prize was a full-page, full-colour advert worth almost £3,000, which appears in today’s Examiner.

Said Mr Shepherd: “It was a lovely surprise to be told I’d won.”

John Shepherd Associates is a consultancy working on regeneration projects and with community and voluntary organisations.

It also focuses on interim management and through its associates offers training, HR, legal and management and organisational support.

Mr Shepherd set up the business two years ago after running a £22.5m regeneration scheme in Halifax, which attracted some £80m of investment.