Large volume of nominations a ‘nice problem to have’ for Gunnedah business awards

Too many award nominations and not enough time to process them all – it’s a “nice problem to have” for the Gunnedah Chamber of Commerce.

The business advocacy organisation recently announced it would postpone its gala awards event until next year due to the sheer volume of unpaid hours anticipated.

Chamber president CJ Baldry Adams said the 2024 event fielded upwards of 200 award nominations across just six award categories.

This year, the business chamber hoped to bump up the number of award categories to 15. But with limited time and resources on hand, the decision was made to defer the awards night to 2026.

The volunteer-run organisation expected to host a Gunnedah awards event every two years thereafter.

“It was a difficult decision to make because we’ve done it so well before,” Ms Baldry Adams said.

“Last year was a really big success.

“We put it to our members to understand what their appetite would be for the awards because we knew it had to be a collective engagement.

“Many were very accepting that we’re a not-for-profit, volunteer-based organisation and having it every second year it would still satisfy the need to get together and celebrate business.”

Many agreed that the time needed to turn around an awards night every year in Gunnedah was not realistic given the parameters.

“We had our systems in place and we had the blue print there (from last year), but it would have meant more uptake of sponsorship and a big increase in time,” Ms Baldry Adams said. “I think a lot were concerned if it was done with fatigue of business and volunteer time, it was not going to be as special as it was last year.

“So people were happy to push it to next year.”

Business NSW regional director for the New England North West, Diane Gray, and Gunnedah Chamber of Commerce president, CJ Baldry Adams, outside the Railway Hotel – a winner of last year’s business awards.

It was noted that although Gunnedah won’t have its own awards this year, local businesses are still eligible to enter the 2025 New England North West Business Awards.

The nomination process remains the same in the regional format, with the same award categories and utilising the same awards’ portal.

Business NSW regional director for the New England North West, Diane Gray, said Gunnedah already has proved its strong record in business excellence.

She highlighted how the Railway Hotel not only won Gunnedah’s large business award category last year, the hotel also won at the regional event before representing at the state level in Sydney.

“[The Railway] was in top level competition and our regional businesses have a platform to stand side by side with others and hold their own,” Ms Gray said.

“I think that’s something to proud of and this is a great example of one of those businesses.”

This year the Gunnedah Chamber of Commerce has also been pursuing organic business development programs in Gunnedah such as NextGen – a young-business-focused network of emerging leaders in the region.

“I’ve seen huge growth and motivation for young people, and that’s why NextGen has been so well placed,” Ms Baldry Adams said.

The chamber has also developed its ‘Gunnedah Toward 2050’ – which outlines a vision for economic, social, and infrastructure development.

“With our Strategy 2050, we’re hoping as a business community we can lean into that document to guide the next 25 years so there is success, sustainability and prosperity,” she said.

“It’s an exciting time to do business.”

The 2024 Gunnedah and New England North West business award winner, Railway Hotel, represented by Josh Launders.