BLACKBURN-BASED Promethean and Rolls-Royce at Barnoldswick were today celebrating the major success of winning a Queen's Award for Enterprise.

Promethean was honoured in the 'innovation' category, placing it among the best companies in the UK for design and product development.

Rolls-Royce won its award for 'international trade' for its top-selling Trent family of jet engines. Its 900-strong workforce at Barnoldswick manufactures the key fan blades which power half the world's fleet of new Airbus and Boeing planes.

The annual Queen's Awards are the UK's top accolade for business performance and honour both the management and workforce alike.

Promethean's award was for the outstanding innovation of its development of ACTIVboard Plus, an interactive, computer-based whiteboard teaching aid which is used in schools and colleges.

Based at Whitebirk, Promethean is the current Lancashire Evening Telegraph Business of the Year and has won a string of educational trophies.

The company has experienced rapid growth since it was established in 1996 and has increased its turnover by over 650% in less than five years. The company now has a presence in over 14 countries, with offices in France, Germany and USA.

Laid end to end the number of ACTIVboard units produced during this year alone would stretch from Blackburn in Lancashire to Birmingham in the West Midlands. Currently, more than 12,000 systems are installed in the UK.

The Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, former Baxi boss Bryan Gray, the local representative of Her Majesty The Queen, will present the Grant of Appointment and Award Emblem to Stephen Jury, Managing Director, at a special presentation ceremony at the QE2 Conference Centre in London on April 22.

"I am immensely proud of all our employees," he said. "Their hard work has helped us to win this award. Everyone has played an important part and we couldn't have done it without the immense dedication of every single member of our team. Promethean's goal is to improve teaching and learning. Our far-reaching mission extends beyond the supply of products to the provision of support and added-value services within the areas of training and teacher development.

"To be granted such an award after such a rigorous and demanding process is a huge success for the company and we are delighted to be recognised as one of the UK's top companies for innovation."

Development of the ACTIVboard Plus from its inception to its current award-winning status took approximately four years, with 20 man years of effort and around £1.5 million in financial investment.

Rolls-Royce's award was won by its airlines division of Rolls-Royce for the sales performance of its Trent family of engines.

Accounting for some 98 per cent of turnover, overseas earnings during the period rose by 251 per cent and total sales were in excess of £2,071 million. More than 500 installed Trent engines have been delivered to date to 40 airlines worldwide.

Charles Cuddington, managing director of Airlines said: "This award marks a significant achievement for our business in what is a challenging international environment.

"Many Rolls-Royce employees and Rolls-Royce business partners have contributed to the growth of the Trent family - from research and design right through to marketing and sales - and all should take pride in the part they have played in this continuing success story."