Chamber's 2023 Goole and Howdenshire Business Excellence Awards now open for entries

The organising committee at last year’s event, with Chairman Garrey Haase pictured on the left.

THE annual quest to find the leading businesses and employers in the local area will begin on Thursday 17 November, when the 2023 Goole and Howdenshire Business Excellence Awards open for entry.

After a hugely successful event earlier this year, the first since before the Covid-19 pandemic, the organising committee has announced that next year’s awards ceremony will take place on 14 April, 2023. It’s usually held a little earlier in the year, but has been scheduled for April to allow building work at Goole Academy, where the awards evening takes place, to be completed.

The committee’s Chairman, Garrey Haase, explained: “After the disappointment of not being able to hold the 2021 event due to the pandemic, it was wonderful to finally be able to come together again in February of this year to celebrate everything that’s so good about doing business in the Goole and Howdenshire area. We never fail to be impressed by the strength and variety of the entries that we receive, but it was especially pleasing to hear about the amazing resilience and adaptability of local businesses following what had been an incredibly difficult couple of years for so many of us.”

For 2023, there are 11 different categories for businesses to enter. As in previous years, the independent judging panel will also be asked to select an Overall Business of the Year Award from the entrants and the organising committee will nominate someone to receive the Tim Richardson Lifetime Achievement Award.

Garrey added: “This year we’ve introduced the Hugh Walton Community Champion Award, for businesses that make a tangible difference to their community, in honour of the late Hugh Walton, a local businessman who was a great supporter of the Goole and Howdenshire Business Excellence Awards for many years.

“There’s also a new Rising Star Award to recognise emerging talent within the local business community; those individuals who are tipped to become the leaders of the future.

“There’s a category for every business to enter, regardless of size, the sector it operates in, or the length of time it has been established. We want local businesses and employers to shout about their successes. Don’t be afraid to enter more than one category to give yourself an even better chance of making it on to the short list.”

The categories for 2023 are as follows:

• New Business Of The Year.
• Small Business Of The Year.
• Large Business Of The Year.
• The Hugh Walton Community Champion Award (Business).
• Charity Of The Year.
• Environmentally Friendly Business Of The Year.
• Marketing Excellence Award.
• Rising Star Award.
• Training And Development Award.
• Self-Employed/Micro Business of the Year.
• Team of the Year Award.

The Goole and Howdenshire Business Excellence Awards is organised by a committee of volunteers from the local business community and staged in partnership with Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce.

Following the untimely death of television presenter Harry Gration, who has compered the event since it was first launched, the 2023 awards ceremony will be hosted by Blair Jacobs, a former presenter for BBC Radio Humberside.

For more information and to enter, visit www.goolebusinessawards.co.uk. The closing date is 19 February, 2023.