Deadline extended for one last week: The Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards 2014

The Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards provide a platform for political heavyweights like Chancellor George Osborne and his counterpart Ed Balls to reach an audience of the region’s most dynamic entrepreneurs and their advisors. Enter online now

The awards recognise the individual contributions made by leading figures such as retail giants Sir Ken Morrison and Sir Stuart Rose, RBS troubleshooter Stephen Hester and Yorkshire ice cream tycoon James Lambert.

The awards also shine a light on ambitious young businesses that are striving to create wealth and jobs in God’s Own Country.

The deadline to enter has been extended for a week, to Monday, July 14 - so this is your last chance to see your organisation represented.

The awards are now open for entries. The main categories are:

• Companies with a turnover up to £10m, sponsored by Yorkshire Bank.

• Companies with a turnover between £10m and £50m, sponsored by PwC.

• Companies with a turnover above £50m, sponsored by DLA Piper

• Young business, sponsored by Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses programme, for companies up to three years old

• Outstanding employer, sponsored by Bradford University School of Management, for excellent employment practices

• Innovation of the Year, sponsored by Drax, for companies that can demonstrate innovation in their approach to growth and development

• Exporter of the Year, sponsored by thebigword, for companies that have made progress in overseas markets

• Community, sponsored by QBE Insurance, for businesses actively working in the community to enhance education and skills development

• SME Manufacturer, sponsored by Elevation Recruitment, for companies with a turnover up to £10m

• Young Entrepreneur of the Year, for owner managers and directors aged 35 and under

• Individual award, sponsored by The Yorkshire Post.

Plusnet is sponsoring the social media part of this year’s awards

The judging panel will be made up of representatives from main sponsors DLA Piper, the international law firm, PwC, the Big Four accountancy firm, and Yorkshire Bank.

The Bank of England will be represented by Juliette Healey, the regional agent.

The Yorkshire Post launched the Excellence in Business Awards in 2006.

The programme has since become established as one of the most eagerly awaited and prestigious celebrations of enterprise in the North of England.

David Cameron spoke at the awards while Leader of the Opposition in 2008. Ed Balls appeared while Education Secretary in 2009. George Osborne attended the 2010 awards after becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who appeared in 2011, praised the “absolute bloody-minded Yorkshire gritty determination to see opportunity where others see pessimism and to see growth where others see contraction”.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, who was guest speaker last year, told the audience of leading Yorkshire industrialists about Government plans to rebalance the UK economy via the high-speed rail link between London and the North.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, is the headline speaker at this year’s awards. The former leader of the Conservative Party is leading the Government’s efforts to reform the welfare state and get more people back into work.

Stephen Hester won the individual award last year for undertaking one of the most complex corporate restructurings in history as chief executive of bailed-out RBS.

Paying tribute to businesses at the event, Mr Hester said: “This is what makes economies, communities, societies.”

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