County based business awards after nominations

THE QUEST to find the county’s creme de la creme of commerce has been launched.

Nominations are open for the Leicestershire round of the East Midlands Chamber’s Business Awards, the only annual industry honours where submissions are judged purely by corporate peers.

They are also the only countyby-county accolades which offer winners a chance to compete on the national stage of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) Awards.

Scott Knowles, chamber chief executive, said: “You can’t overestimate the value of taking part in awards. They make organisations focus on what they do best, offer opportunities for outward promotion, raise the kudos of the firm and make employees more proud to belong to the organisation. It’s winwin at every level.”

Organisations can enter as many awards categories as they like. The categories for each of the three counties, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, are Apprentice of the Year, Business Improvement Through Technology, Commitment to People Development, Community Impact, Education and Business Partnership, Entrepreneur of the Year, Excel- lence in Customer Service, Excellence in International Trade, Manufacturer of the Year, Marketing Campaign of the Year, Outstanding Growth and Small Business of the Year.

One of the category winners will also scoop the Business of the Year Award, sponsored by Mazars, one of Europe’s largest accounting firms and headline sponsor of the Chamber’s awards programme.

The deadline for entries to this year’s awards is 5pm May 18. For further details and to download county-specific application forms visit http://www.emc-dnl.co.uk/ businessawards