Judges debate Yorkshire’s best businesses for Variety awards

FOR many years it was the traditional home of the BBC in Yorkshire, playing host to some of the biggest names in television.

But today Old Broadcasting House was the location for a gathering of stars from the Yorkshire business community.

They met to debate and decide the winners of this year’s Yorkshire Business Awards, the annual fundraising event for the Variety children’s charity.

The awards have raised more than £3.2m over the last three decades, supporting tens of thousands of disabled and disadvantaged children in Yorkshire.

The judging panel was made up of Simon Baldwin of Leeds Beckett University, Chris Clegg of Endless, Bernard Ginns of The Yorkshire Post, Juliette Healey of the Bank of England, Matthew Jowett of Rothschild, Paul Judge of Henderson Insurance Brokers, Hunter Kelly of EY, Jonathan Procter of DLA Piper, Chris Rea of AESSEAL, Peter Wilkinson of InTechnology and Simon Wright of Yorkshire Bank.

The winners for the business leader, board, SME and corporate social responsibility categories will be announced at the Christmas lunch at The Queens hotel in Leeds on December 11.

They will be joined by Brian Blessed, who will be honoured for his lifetime’s achievements as an actor, adventurer and raconteur, and Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the man described by the Guinness Book of Records as “the world’s greatest explorer”. Christine Talbot of ITV’s Calendar will host the event.

To buy tickets, please contact Charlotte Farrington at Variety on 0113 2459937.