Going for Gold!

This annual event is the highlight of the BITA calendar, and we make sure we go all out – nothing less than the best for our incredible members!

The night starts at 6pm, when our fabulously attired guests arrive for entertainment and music in the reception rooms, before being called for a mouthwatering three course dinner with wine and show-stopping entertainment, with the all-important awards only being around 40 minutes of this amazing night. The theme this year is old-style glamour, Hollywood 50’s style to be specific, so get ready to hark back to the heady days of early rock ‘n roll and true elegance.

Those that attended last year were amazed by the entertainment and this year will be not be a disappointment, but no spoilers here, book your tickets early for a night of guaranteed enjoyment.

The highlight of the night is of course our awards ceremony where we get the chance to honour our members and shine a light on their incredible achievements and hard work. Last year’s awards were our most lavish yet, but of course we plan to top them this year!

We have seven open categories and they are all open to any company that feels they qualify – the only criteria; that you are of course, a BITA member.

You can nominate your own business or someone else’s, for as many award categories as you think apply.

Once the nominations are closed, we will send out forms to every nominee to get a bit more information about why their company should win. The executive and non-executive directors will select 3 finalists for each category, and the winners will be selected by an independent panel of judges from the BITA membership. The winners will be announced on the night!

AWARD CATEGORIES THIS YEAR ARE:

• Small Business of the Year which is open to small businesses including sole traders who employ fewer than 11 people.

• The award for Growing Business is available for companies who can show high growth revenue and profit over the last 12 months.

• Businesses that can demonstrate unswerving commitment to business partnerships can apply for the Business to Business award.

• Our BITA Supporter award is a special one for our members who have worked closely with BITA members and shown dedication to BITA and our values of integrity, passion, communications and delivery.

• The Young Entrepreneur award is for young professionals under the age of 35 who are coming up with innovative business solutions.

• Businesses that keep the needs of the community in mind should be nominated for the Socially Conscious Business award.

• A new award this year, The Charles Darwin Award, celebrates a business that has successfully adapted or created a product, service or process in the face of change – adapt or die!

Last year Work & Wear Direct took home the award for Small Business of the Year, with Director James Mitson saying; “You may or may not have seen the post we put out on LinkedIn which was taken from a famous clip from the Ryder Cup. In the end this had nearly 10k views; it helped get us exposure that we wouldn’t have had if it wasn’t for BITA. I would like to say personally what this award meant to me and my family, especially my dad. My dad was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukaemia in Sept 2017 and in Aug 2018 got given a few months to live. The day after he heard we’d won the award it made him the happiest person in the world. As it showed that all our hard work as a business had started to pay off. I cannot thank everyone enough within BITA for helping make my dad so happy in his final months before he passed away in January this year. He was telling everyone who would listen about us winning this award. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to share this award and memory with my dad for the rest of my life!”

Danny O'Sullivan, Danny Sullivan Group

James Mitson, Work & Wear Direct

Vince Caldicott, Premier Contract Supplies

James Mitson, Work and Wear Direct

Colleen McCoy, J G McCoy Engineering

Alex Thraves, Absorb Films

Laughlan Steer, Julie Camp and Henry Hathaway, Silver Shemmings Ash LLP

In the lead up to the awards, we will arrange for the three finalists to be interviewed with a film crew who will create a short film of each finalist. These are all shown on the night, so all finalists get publicity and congratulations for making it so far, and the winner announced to collect their award. The calibre of our nominees is very high and it’s a great indicator of the health of a business to make it to the finals.

Colleen McCoy of J G McCoy Engineering beat off stiff competition last year to win the Business to Business award. She says; ‘It was wonderful to be nominated and I can’t believe that we won. We have always worked to put our clients and suppliers at the heart of what we do, as we know we can’t operate successfully alone. To have this recognised by our peers and to have been nominated, let alone win, is a great validation of all the hard work we’ve put in over the years.’

Of course, the whole night was enjoyable; ‘the singing waiters were such a surprise; I couldn’t believe it when they one by one launched into song like that! It was a great event to bring family and friends to, even better in light of our win, and we can’t wait to go this year’; says Colleen.

Other winners on the night included LDD Construction for Growing Business of the Year, Silver Shemmings Ash LLP for BITA Supporter, Alex Thraves winning Young entrepreneur and PCS won Socially Conscious Business for their work with homeless people in Brighton.

We urge our members to nominate themselves or another member’s business for an award this year and get the deserved recognition!

You can nominate your business or that of another member now at www.bitaawards.org