| AT LAST we can unveil the finalists of The Press Business Awards 2006 - picked by judges from scores of high-quality businesses competing for the biggest hallmarks of entrepreneurial excellence in the region.
But only three in each of 12 categories could earn the right to be at our famously glittering finals night in the Voltigeur Suite at York Racecourse on November 16, where places are reserved for those who represent our theme this year - A New Tomorrow.
But of these qualifiers as many as eight businesses have succeeded in "doing the double" - by becoming finalists in two categories.
So hail to Alice Adams, founder of the £1 million-turnover Ryedale Telecommunications who not only reached the last three in the Business Personality of the Year category, but is also in line for the Women In Enterprise title.
Adam Sinclair, of Mulberry Hall, the internationally-known crystal and china specialist in York's Stonegate will rival Alice as Business Personality of the Year while his store is also in line for the title of Retailer of the Year.
The third retailer rival is Fancy Dance, the dancewear and fancy dress shop in Micklegate, York, which has also "done the double" with its owner Jayne Mason earning her place in the top three of the Women In Enterprise category. Jayne, a single parent to two children, one of them severely visually impaired, successfully fought off cervical cancer before launching her shop two years ago.
Another Business Personality finalist is Richard Morrice, founder of The Morrice Partnership, the York communications consultancy.
The third finalist in Retailer of the Year is the Balloon Tree Farm Shop and Cafe, at Gate Helmsley, which won the New Business of the Year title in 2004, then proved it was the one to watch last year when it scooped the overall title of Press Business of the Year.
Then there is Phil Shackleton, 28-year-old co-leader of Mixd, the booming digital design company in Northallerton. He not only finds himself among the top three claimants to the Young Entrepreneur of the Year title, but also his company is among the elite in the Small Business of the Year category.
AVQ, the audio visual specialist at The Bull Commercial Centre in Stockton-on-the-Forest, earns itself a top place in the Growth Business of the Year category, with its £750,000 turnover representing an 83 per cent increase over the previous year; at the same time it is a finalist in the Small Business of the Year category.
Growth businesses ranged against AVQ are Hunters, the York-based estate agency, which won the 2003 Progress Through People Award; and Holme Farmed Venison, the Sherburn-in-Elmet venture which is expanding to meet the huge and growing demand for the lean meat.
The third rival for the Small Business title is 9xb, the two-year-old web development firm in Knaresborough which helped television presenter Selina Scott to set up and manage her website to sell mohair socks made by her company, Ampleforth Angoras Ltd of Kirkbymoorside.
For Avacta, the new and thriving detection and analysis company in York which last month was successfully launched on the AIMS market, there is now a definite prospect of becoming our New Business of the Year as well as the Science & Technology Business of the Year.
Its title rivals for the New Business of the Year will be Smiles All Round, the new estate agency in Fossgate, York, the first venture run by Denise Howard since she sold YorkBoat, a previous overall winner of our competition; and Sound Solutions of York, headed up by Alex Browne, whose former business, Pig Hut Studios, scooped him the Young Entrepreneur of the Year title in 2003.
And guess what? Alex is again a finalist in The Young Entrepreneur of the Year, this time with his new venture. Apart from Mixd, his rival in this category will be New Yorker Cherie Federico, cofounder of Aesthetica, the creative arts organisation based in The Fishergate Centre, York, whose Aesthetica Magazine is supported by the Arts Council and recognised as the fastest-growing literary and arts publication in the UK.
And Avacta's worthy rivals under the Science & Technology heading are Price Capture, the programme devised by IT expert Chris Wiggins of York which tracks price dips of more than half a million products; and RedBlack Software, the York-based specialist provider of bespoke software for business.
By the way, ranged against Alice Adams and Jayne Mason for the Women in Enterprise Award are worthy opponents Alison Farrant and Ann Wyatt of Independent Home Living, the Scarborough-based home care business with nearly 200 clients in North Yorkshire.
So far so good for Welcom Software of Harrogate as it defends the Progress Through People title it won last year but either Constructive Individuals, the York architectural practice famous for its "green-minded" community and self-build projects; or Inspire To Independence (Training) Ltd at York's Innovation Centre which is helping to place 3,000 jobless people in work, are themselves poised to take the title.
Either way, Welcom will have a second bite at the cherry, given that it is also a finalist in the Large Business of the Year where its rivals are the Clifton Moor based Best Western, the umbrella organisation for 300 hotels throughout Britain; and high-tech time and attendance systems specialist Mitrefinch, also of Clifton Moor, which in 2004 as well as last year scooped the technology title.
Finalists in the Best Business & Education Link category are all organisations which have a deliberate policy of enlightening school pupils to the ways and wonders of business.
They are CPP one of York's biggest employers which last year won the Large Business of the Year title; Stockbridge Technology Centre, near Cawood whose horticultural research and development is shared with schoolchildren all over Selby; and Saint Gobain Glass in Eggborough which has excited a whole new generation in the region about the manufacture of glass.
There is a tough battle ahead for the three rivals for the Think Green Business of the Year. The Queens Head pub and Cantonese restaurant in Amotherby, near Malton, which has been given a "green" 21st century makeover, including solar panels and geothermic heating, competes against Termex, the firm on Easingwold Business Park, which markets revolutionary building materials made from recycled paper; and Cartridge World in Clifton Green, York, which not only thinks green, but black, blue, red and yellow too as it recycles ink cartridges.
Business Personality of the Year
Alice Adams of Ryedale Communications
Adam Sinclair of Mulberry Hall
Richard Morrice of The Morrice Partnership
Women In Enterprise Award
Alice Adams of Ryedale Telecommunications
Alison Farrant and Ann Wyatt of Independent Home Living
Jayne Mason of Fancy Dance
This article can be read at http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/business/awards/finalists
York Press |
