Lancashire Telegraph Business Awards Categories

Awards Categories

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.

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.

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.

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.

To reward a pioneering company 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 businesses whether large hi-tech companies or small independent firms. Businesses will have to demonstrate how innovation has changed their fortunes.

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.

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.

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.

Selling directly to the public is a special skill and this award is targeted at businesses of all kinds doing just that. Likely candidates might be specialist retailers with products ordered via the internet, by post or on the phone. Or they could equally be retailers who have found success by selling through shops, stores or other outlets. In short we are looking for any business that has become a winner by selling people what they want, when and how they want it.

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.