The Sentinel Business Awards 2009
IT’s all there to shoot for – so grab the golden opportunity and go for it in this year’s Sentinel Business Awards.
Prove to one and all that you have come through the worst of the recession fighting fit and on an upward curve.
Show customers and suppliers alike that your business can be relied upon to deliver in both the short and long term – boosting their confidence in you and what you do.
Now entering their 16th year and presented in association with North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the awards offer unrivalled opportunities which smart people can exploit to make a dramatic difference to their profitability.
Though the stars of the show tend to change year on year one thing remains constant: from Day One the competition has been all about showcasing the very best of the best.
Simply being a nominee can help entrants attract new staff, ideas and investment while the sponsors – whose backing helps make the whole thing possible – are well aware of the competition’s power to help stimulate the region’s entrepreneurial spirit and focus on the future.
This year’s awards line-up is:
- Business of the Year Award
- Small Business of the Year Award
- Young Businessperson of the Year Award
- Start-up Business of the Year Award
- International Trade Award
- Business Innovation Award
- Environmental Business Award
- Training Excellence Award
- Best Use of Communications and IT Award
- Design Excellence Award.
The sponsors are HSBC Commercial Banking, Business Link West Midlands, Beswicks Solicitors, Keele University Science and Business Park, UK Trade and Investment, the Business Innovation Centre (BIC), Michelin Tyre plc, Fortis Insurance Solutions, BT Local Business – Stoke, Staffordshire University, North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce & Industry, RSM Bentley Jennison and Advantage West Midlands.
Launching the awards, Staffordshire Sentinel News and Media editor in chief Mike Sassi said: "With everyone so keen to make the most of the post recession period, these awards have a vital role to play in helping hone that competitive edge.
"Experience shows that success during this a crucial period – getting in on the ground floor of recovery – is absolutely vital to the fortunes of both established firms and those just starting out."
And managing director Tim Saunders said: "This area has the business brains and talent to match the very best, and promoting that fact locally, nationally and internationally is key to North Staffordshire regaining its economic advantage."
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The awards categories
Business of the Year Award
Widely recognised as THE award for exceptional performance in business, this premier sector is open to companies with an annual turnover in excess of two-million pounds.
Entrants need to demonstrate outstanding success during their most recent full financial year and can be judged on criteria ranging from exceptional growth and increased trading profit through to development of services and products or new production techniques.
Small Business of the Year Award
Small businesses are vital to the West Midlands economy.
The category created for the thousands of small businesses which make such an important – especially in the post-recession era – contribution to this country’s economy.
Criteria for entry include turnover not exceeding two-million pounds during their most recent full trading year.
Entrants have to demonstrate solid success — be it growth in profit or turnover, exploiting new products, production techniques, services or markets.
Young Business Person of the Year Award
Entrants must be aged 40 or under on January 1, 2009.
They may be employed or self-employed and should be directly responsible for the success of their enterprise. Candidates will be able to demonstrate a significant role in improving profits, introducing new products and or services, or opening up new markets.
Evidence of determination to seek out and exploit new opportunities and help drive the company forward will almost certainly be a key factor in the winner’s approach to business.
Start-up Business of the Year Award
An award designed to promote and encourage the most vigorous of ‘green shoots’ enterprises among the stream of new ventures emerging in this region.
The enterprise must be independent and NOT a subsidiary of another organisation and have been established within the past two years.
The judges will be looking for evidence of early financial success and a sound business plan in place that is likely to ensure continued growth and sustainability.
International Trade Award
This award will be made for outstanding achievement in international trade. Entries are welcome from new or established exporters and from companies involved in overseas strategic alliances or manufacturing partnerships, and also from providers of financial services, training, consultancy, professional services etc.
The growth in international trade in relation to the size of the company, and its overall success, will be of importance as will sales and marketing initiatives which have opened up new overseas opportunities.
Business Innovation Award
Entrants will be companies for which a new idea — or novel use of an existing one — is making a significant contribution to their business.
That contribution could be by way of a new product, service or process, and the judges will be keen to hear about the intellectual processes which gave rise to its design and development.
They will also want to know how innovation is handled within the culture of the company as this is primarily an award to encourage inventive thought and those enterprises which have the foresight to nurture it.
Environmental Business Award
Companies must have introduced environmental improvements which are enhancing the quality of life within North Staffordshire. Qualifying projects must have been completed, or have reached a meaningful stage, within the past 12 months.
Typical benefits are likely to be a reduction of harmful emissions, waste and or noise; improved usage of raw materials or transport efficiency, land reclamation, or action taken to reduce the impact of business activity on neighbours and the environment in general.
Training Excellence Award
Businesses must be able to demonstrate a real commitment to the training and personal development of staff. The judges will be particularly interested in the adoption of strategic training and development strategies which have resulted in real and demonstrable benefits to the business.
Best use of IT & Communications Award
This Award will go to the company that has successfully introduced new technology to improve communications with external or internal customers and/or suppliers and, where approprite, is utilising e-commerce in its trading activities.
The judges will be particularly interested in the benefits that the technology has brought to the business both in terms of opening up new services/markets or the improvement of existing ones.
Design Excellence Award
This award will go to the company with a product which exhibits design excellence – an innovative product (designed and or produced in the locality) which has a practical purpose, is economic to produce and makes a significant contribution to business success.
There are no restrictions on the type of product, so long as it demonstrates all of the success criteria, with particular emphasis on innovation, creativity and application of good design. It should ideally have been brought to market in the past 12 months, although concepts at the point of market entry will also be considered.
Video profiles
Companies reaching the finals of the Business Awards will be profiled on videos to be shown at the awards presentation dinner in March next year. Film makers will visit the finalists — three in each awards category — to produce a sparkling montage of the very best in the region.
Presentation Awards Dinner
The Presentation of the Business Awards ‘Oscars’ will be made at the dinner to be held at the Best Western (formally the Stoke on Trent Moat House) on Tuesday 23 March 2010.
Registration form
COMPLETE and return the entry form now to register your interest, and we will send you guidelines detailing the information required in your written submission.
And in the run-up to that glittering event you can follow progress of The Sentinel Business Awards in the paper’s business section every Monday.
