There's a category to suit every business in East Lancashire in this year's awards.

The premier award in East Lancashire’s business year. Open to any business that can demonstrate a successful track record of excellence and achievement. We are looking for firms of any size, working in any commercial or industrial sector.

  • Deal of the Year Sponsored by Deloitte

We are looking for the crucial ‘big deal’ that promises transform a business. It could include a company purchase or arranging a management buy-out or buy-in. Other 'deals' could be important moves or the launch of a new product/s aimed at securing the future of a business in these troubled economic times. Equally a listing on the Stock Exchange, relocation, expansion or pulling off a great sales deal could make you a winner.

  • Team of the Year Sponsored by Napthens

This award is every business’s opportunity to put forward a team of people who have really made a difference. Their impact might have been an ability to bring new solutions to an old problem and benefit the way a business works or a fantastic performance in production, sales or another discipline. Equally it might be a group, or complete workforce, who have brought a new meaning to the term customer service or whose attitude and example stimulates others. In brief it’s your chance as a company to put your heroes into the spotlight they deserve.

  • Small Business of the Year Sponsored by Hyndburn Enterprise Trust

Launching your own business requires a whole range of skills and qualities and this award is designed to recognise and celebrate them. You might be a manufacturer establishing a market or a business providing a service. We are looking for small businesses successfully overcoming the various hurdles all such enterprises face to establish themselves firmly in any sector.

  • Training and Development Sponsored by Blackburn College

Good quality training is the key to success for any business. Employees who know what to do, and the safest and most efficient ways to do it, are the cornerstone of a successful enterprise. This award recognises companies which are committed to recruiting local people from a variety of backgrounds, overcoming inequality and developing and supporting their workforce.

  • Innovation and Technology

To reward a pioneering business which has designed and introduced an innovative product, process or scheme to become a leader in its particular field or innovative technology to stay ahead of the competition. Applications will be accepted from all kinds of enterprises whether large hi-tech companies or small independent firms. Businesses will have to demonstrate how innovation and technology has changed their fortunes.

  • Environment

This category is for any company that has introduced the manufacture/invention of goods/services that have already, or will in the future, result in a genuine improvement to the environment or have, by a series of measures, made a real difference to the local or national environment. Alternatively it could be a company that has 'gone green' by introducing systems or initiatives within its own business that demonstrate it is truly environmentally aware.

  • Manufacturing Sponsored by Accrol Papers

Manufacturing is the backbone of East Lancashire’s business economy in terms of creating wealth and providing employment. This new award recognises companies of any size which use skill to turn raw materials into products and then either successfully bring them to market or secure contracts to supply them as components to larger manufacturers. The type of business and items produced do not matter. What is important is innovation, inspired design, quality, production efficiency, sales flair – and all the other skills needed to be a manufacturing winner.

  • Export Sponsored by Burnley Borough Council

In our ‘global village’ the export of goods, expertise and services is vital for our whole economy. This award recognises the success and enterprise of East Lancashire firms of all shapes and sizes in finding new markets around the world or reinvigorating old ones and pulling out all the stops to do business within them.

  • High Street Retailer Sponsored by Blackburn with Darwen Council

With the national focus on supporting the high street and town centres and the recent Mary Portas recommendations , this year the award focuses on high street retailers. Likely candidates might be specialist retailers who have found success by selling through shops, stores, market stalls or other outlets. They will have successfully claimed their place on the high street by selling customers what they want, when and how they want it. Whether you have a distinctive product range, offer excellent value and it goes without saying, deliver fantastic customer service, then we want to hear from you.

  • Social and Community

This award is all about positive action, either by businesses putting something back into the communities in which they operate or enterprises in which the bottom line isn’t the driving factor but which carry out work to benefit individuals in East Lancashire. It is open to charities and all kinds of social enterprises as well as conventional companies. The latter might have allowed community organisations, schools or charities to use the resources of the business or given them ideas, advice, money or expertise.