Great Yarmouth's Business of the Decade will be announced this Friday night at the glittering trophy presentation ceremony for the Spirit of Enterprise Awards.
The Spirit of Enterprise Awards, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year with the introduction of the special award, is organised by enterpriseGY, Great Yarmouth Borough Council's business support service, and aims to boost confidence in the local economy by recognising top-performing firms.
After weeks of anticipation, businesses shortlisted for the various awards will find out who the winners are during a grand awards ceremony and gala dinner to be held for 200 guests at the Town Hall's Assembly Room.
The awards scheme has nine categories and saw more than 100 entries this year, a new record.
The shortlisting panel included independent judges from the business community, who supported the sponsors in the judging process.
Overall award sponsor Stephenson Smart, chartered accountants and business advisors, has selected the 2017 Business of the Year from the winners of the other categories.
Business of the Decade is a stand-alone award that was open to all businesses in the borough, with the winner chosen by facilities management and services group Norse, GYB Services and GYN Asset Management Services, the award sponsor.
The media sponsors are the Great Yarmouth Mercury and The Beach. Rob Chandler, of The Beach, will host the evening, and the guest speaker is restaurateur Galton Blackiston.
The awards help to highlight the borough's many and varied successful businesses, supporting one of the council's priorities, which is to work with partners to help champion and enable economic growth and job-creation in the area.
Graham Plant, the council leader, and Trevor Wainwright, the Labour group leader, will be attending on the event. Mr Plant will give a speech on behalf of the council.
He said: 'This awards scheme, now in its milestone 10th year, is another way that the council is supporting the local economy, boosting investor confidence by highlighting brilliant businesses of all sizes, sectors and ages from across the borough.'
The finalists are
Great Manufacturing/Engineering – ABC Diesels Ltd, Gee Force Hydraulics, Pharos Marine
Great New Business – Bellyboos Candy Store, Gentlemen's HQ, Quay Pride
Great Business Growth – Camplings Linen, CSS Cloud Ltd, Gee Force Hydraulics
Great Business Idea – Colmans Pet Foods, Fusion Hair & Beauty, Goodchild Marine
Great Customer Services – Imperial Hotel GY, Mocha, P&S Personnel Ltd
Great Family Owned Business – GY Ceilings, Palmers, Sara's Tearooms
Great International Growth – Ninchar Offshore Recruitment, Simmons Edeco Europe Ltd, Smart eLearning Ltd
Great Investment in People – East Coast Energy Partnership, Pharos Marine Auto Power, Stephenson Smart
Great Community Contribution – Arthur Jary & Sons Ltd, Fusion Hair and Beauty, Twinkle Twinkle Little Party
Business of the Decade – 3sun Group, Goodchild Marine, Great Yarmouth Ceilings
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