Deadline nears as companies urged to show their green credentials

Our judges extended the deadline for the 2011 competition after a flood of late entries and now businesses, schools and community groups have until Sunday, April 10 to submit their applica-tions.

The awards, in their third year, aim to both recognise and celebrate the very best of the environmental work being undertaken across Yorkshire under a variety of different guises.

All the shortlisted entrants will be invited to a glittering awards ceremony next month, where the prizes will be handed out by the host for the evening – BBC television presenter Julia Bradbury – and the ceremony’s keynote speaker, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman.

Tickets for the event will also go on sale to the general public later this month.

With 10 different categories available, the awards are open to businesses, schools, community groups, youth projects and individuals across Yorkshire who are making a real difference with their environmental work.

Last year’s winners included Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate, the family-owned tea and coffee firm which scooped the Best Environmental Business Award; Settle Hydro, a resident-owned green energy project in the Yorkshire Dales which clinched the Community Award; and Tom Riordan, then the chief executive of regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, who received the individual Green Champion Award.

The award for Best Green Product went to Econoplas, a Scarborough firm which uses recycled plastics to create an innovative drainage system now used across the world.

Ganton Special School in Hull won the Young People’s Award for its efforts to rebuild the school in an environmentally-friendly way following the 2007 floods; while the Ragged Robin Conservation Group collected the Countryside Award for the tireless work of its volunteers around the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The final closing date for entries for this year’s awards will be Sunday, April 10.

Our panel of expert judges will then get to work drawing up a shortlist of the very best contenders in each category.

Winners will receive a trophy on the night and will subsequently be featured in a special pull-out supplement in the Yorkshire Post.

For more information or to register your entry, visit www.yorkshirepost.co.uk and follow the ‘Environment Awards’ link at the top of the page.