Search starts for Hartlepool's best businesses

The annual competition has officially opened. Organisers urged companies from across the town to enter.

The winners will be revealed at the prestigious awards evening in the Borough Hall on May 11.

Submissions will be taken over the next six weeks before judges whittle it down a shortlist of three in each of the 10 categories, with the overall Business of the Year Award being selected from the winners of each of the categories.

Awards co-ordinator Andy Steel is looking forward to another bumper year of entrants following on from last year’s success.

He said: “The Awards have made a great start already as last year’s overall business of the year JDR Cables has agreed to be the main sponsor.

“The whole event is reliant upon sponsorship and I’m extremely grateful to all of the companies who support the event whether that is sponsoring a category prize or taking out one of the various packages to support the event.

“I’m extremely grateful to JDR Cables for agreeing to be the main sponsor this year and I’m really looking forward to seeing who will take their crown at the big event in May.”

As well as Business of the Year, categories include Newcomer of the Year, the Hartlepool Mail-backed Community Business category, Training, Creative, Hospitality and Manufacturing amongst others.

There are also awards for Young Entrepreneur and Business Leader of the Year, an accolade given to Hart Biologicals’ Managing Director Alby Pattison last year.

Ian Mallett from JDR Cables said “The Business Awards is not only a great evening but a great way to showcase your business no matter how big or small you are.

“We are extremely pleased to have won the Overall Business of the Year twice in the last four years and the awards themselves take pride of place in our reception for all of our customers to see.

“We know how important sponsorship is to the success of the event and we are only too happy to play our part in celebrating what is good about businesses in Hartlepool.”

Andy Steel added: “Despite the economic downturn, last year we had more entrants than the previous five years and even more pleasing was the number of new entrants in each category.

“I would like to take this opportunity to encourage as many businesses as possible, to enter for the awards over the next six weeks.

“There are 10 different categories to enter which means there is something for all businesses whatever size or sector you are in.”