The Sentinel Business Awards 2008

IT IS one thing to claim to be the best in the business – and quite another to put it to an independent test.

And for those with the courage and foresight, The Sentinel's 2008 Business Awards are a great opportunity to do just that.

So go for it – and project your company into high-profile focus, showcasing your successes, talents and products to an ever-widening audience.

The awards, now in their 15th year – and presented in association with the North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce & Industry (NSCCI) – are a firmly established highlight of the region's business calendar. Each new competition enables a fresh group of stars to come shining through.

And such is the ever-increasing quality of the entrants – which always includes some unknowns – past form is rarely much of a guide as to who will carry off the final honours.

Adjudication by a panel of experienced and totally impartial judges gives the awards a rarely-rivalled credibility.

But it isn't just the winners who benefit. Simply being profiled as a finalist or an entrant can bring opportunities to attract new customers and investment, fresh blood and ideas.

Importantly for the economic future of Stoke-on-Trent and its surrounding area, all the awards help attract attention to this region's successes and produce a motivational trickle-down encouraging others to try to emulate that success. The sponsors, whose backing helps make the competition possible, are well aware of how it benefits the region as an aid to stimulating entrepreneurial spirit and focusing on the need to invest in, and work towards, the future.

This year's line-up includes: Business of the Year Award, Small Business of the Year Award, Young Businessperson of the Year Award, Start-up Business of the Year Award, Contribution to the Community Award, International Trade Award, Business Innovation Award, Environmental Business Award, Investing in People Award, Communications in Technology in Business Award and the Design Excellence Award.

The sponsors are: Lloyds TSB Commercial Banking, Business Initiative, Hacking Ashton LLP, Keele University Science and Business Park, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, UK Trade & Investment, the Business Innovation Centre, Michelin Tyre plc, Learning & Skills Council, BT Local Business, Staffordshire University, RSM Bentley Jennison, and the North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

Launching this year's competition, Staffordshire Sentinel News And Media Editor-In-Chief, Michael Sassi, said: "As a matter of principle, this newspaper tries to be positive wherever possible – and the business awards are a good example of that philosophy. The successes highlighted encourage and inspire a great many others, and that has to be to the benefit of the region."

Group managing director Tim Saunders said: "We believe that the business awards encourage local businesses to try that little bit harder, and there is no doubt that constantly striving for a competitive edge is the way forward to a healthy local economy."

NSCCI president Bob Young said: "As it looks like we are going into recession, it will be a chance to show that really good businesses succeed even in difficult times.

"It will also show how enterprising people from Stoke-on-Trent are. We don't tend to have the big peaks or the big troughs that other areas do."

Richard Poole, finance director of Steelite International, which won the Business of the Year and Design Excellence awards at last year's ceremony, said it the victory had boosted staff morale.

He said: "We considered it to be a fantastic achievement for Steelite International and recognition for all the hard work and dedication that goes into the business.

"It is a boost for staff morale to be honoured as one of the area's most successful companies."

The competition's finale will be a gala dinner and presentation ceremony – complete with video profiles of all the finalists – due to be held at the Stoke-on-Trent Best Western Hotel (formerly the Moat House) on Tuesday, March 31 next year.