Who's the best in the biz? Regional awards ceremony calls for nominations

Peak industry body Business NSW announced nominations for the 2024 New England North West Business Awards are officially open from June 11.

Winners of the awards move on to the NSW State Business Awards in October.

"We have 18 categories. It's a great opportunity for any business whether you're a startup, a small business, or a large organisation there's a category for everyone to celebrate the unique successes of each and every business," Business NSW regional director for the New England North West Diane Gray said.

Some award categories include Outstanding Employee, Excellence in Innovation, and the much-coveted Business of the Year.

Nominations close on July 15, judging will commence shortly afterwards, and the awards ceremony will be held on September 20 at Gunnedah Town Hall.

Ms Gray also used the announcement to commend one of Business NSW's own outstanding employees.

"It's an absolute honour to have the recently-awarded Kate Nugent on our team, who is now Kate Nugent OAM," Ms Gray said.

Ms Nugent said she and her partner Barry Harley OAM are incredibly honoured to be recognised for their efforts growing and developing events in Tamworth and the New England.

Major awards sponsor Joblink Plus says it's exciting to support Business NSW in highlighting the efforts of more than 2300 employers from Quirindi and Currabubula up to Inverell and Tenterfield.

"Many regional areas across the New England North West don't hold their own local awards, so this is a fantastic opportunity for locations like Armidale and Glen Innes to recognise success within their local business," Joblink Plus board of directors chair Jye Segboer said.

Katherine Sherrie, owner of last year's Excellence in Innovation award-winner FPM Cereal Milling Systems, said she encourages any and all businesses to nominate on the event page of the Business NSW website.

"Being a family business we don't have a big marketing budget, so participating in a program like this gives you a little bit of free publicity so to speak," Ms Sherrie said.

"Even though we've been here in Tamworth for 20 years, we had a lot of people who had never heard of us pop into our business saying, 'Ah, you won that award!' and coming in to buy flour."