This year’s Hunter Region Business Excellence Awards were possibly the best ever conducted by the Hunter Region BEC. There were over 100 nominations received with 59 finalists.

The awards originally known as The Cessnock/Kurri Kurri Small Business Awards started in September 1993 covering the businesses of the Cessnock Shire only. Over the years the awards have grown and in 2007 were opened to businesses throughout the Hunter region and were renamed the Hunter Region Business Excellence Awards.

This year’s winner was Hummingbird Electronics who took out the trophy for Innovation and Business of the Year. Other big winners on the night were Amanda Gascoigne of Gascoigne Consulting who won Business Woman of the Year, Courtney Turton of Oxygen Allstars who secured the Young Entrepreneur and Norman Ballard of Hummingbird Electronics who was named inaugural Business Leader of the Year. Congratulations to these winners and all the winners of individual categories.