By Dylan Smith:
Success was celebrated as Gunnedah Chamber of Commerce welcomed the highly anticipated return of its gala business awards on Saturday.
The Gunnedah Town Hall was dazzling for the celebration, with guests enjoying an evening of delicious food, entertainment as well as the presentation of awards.
Railway Hotel was announced as the excellence in large business winner, with Stewart Surveys the winner in the small business category.
Small Moments Speech & Play and Ultra Fleet were announced as joint winners in the excellence in microbusiness category.
Outstanding new business was awarded to Reverence Road, excellence in diversity and inclusion to Goodstart Early Learning Gunnedah and outstanding young business leader to Lauren Fitzgerald of Mannion Drilling.
Chamber president Ben Hennessy and vice president CJ Baldry officiated as co-hosts of the celebration.
Mr Hennessy said Gunnedah had last hosted an awards night in 2019 and that he was excited to see it return.
“This is all about celebrating our business community,” he said.
“In business, sometimes it can be a really lonely pursuit.
“This shines a spotlight on the amazing businesses in our community.”
Ms Baldry said exciting times are ahead for the chamber and the broader community.
Speaking of the awards, she said just under 200 nominations had been received.
The awards were judged by an independent panel.
Mr Hennessy praised the calibre of the submissions.
Prior to the presentation of business awards, a lifetime achievement award was posthumously awarded to Stuart Grosser and accepted by his son, Douglas, and wife, Diana.
Mr Grosser, who was the managing director of GBP Cranes, was acknowledged for his dedication to the Gunnedah business community for more than 50 years.
See more on the business awards in a commemorative feature to be published in the Gunnedah Times next week.
To order photos from this page click here
