The awards have been supported by a whole range of Brighton businesses – from the largest to the smallest and the oldest to the newest.

Most popular category of all has been The New Kids on the Block – closely followed by The Creative Industries award.

The Independent Retailer and Best Place to Entertain your Clients both proved as popular as ever and, of course, these are supported by the search for the Best Customer Service in Brighton.

The judges certainly have a massive job on their hands!

But business in Brighton and Hove isn’t just about making a profit. Entries for awards such as Equality & Diversity, Responsible Business, Healthiest Workplace and Business in the Community have never been so well supported.

Don’t you just LOVE Brighton??

And the search goes on for The Outstanding Brightonian – do make your nominations via the site.

Thanks to all our sponsors who make the Brighton and Hove Business Awards a reality. Could not do it without you!

The BAHBA Team

The MDHub is proud sponsor of the Business Growth Award in the 2008 Brighton and Hove Business Awards – the BAHBAs – for the third year running.

Says Phil Green: “Growing businesses are the lifeblood of the local and national economy, generating new jobs and creating new opportunities for everyone to enjoy. This is what the Hub is all about.

“Great businesses, great awards, great city, great networking – get involved!”

Last year’s winner of the Business Growth Award was Spannerworks - a true local success story of bedroom to international boardroom in ten years – and MDHub member.

Arjo Ghosh, Chief Executive of iCrossing UK, said: “Winning a BAHBA helped us develop our local profile and bring pride to our work. As well as being recognised by our own business community, it was also great fun and a brilliant way to celebrate success.

“I would urge all MDHub members to take the time to enter.”

The 2006 winner, Brighton Sheet Metal, is also an MDHub member.

“There are a number of positives to come out of BSM winning the Growth award,” says Bill Taylor. “The impact on staff morale and attitude to the company has been very positive together with the knowledge that Brighton and Hove still recognise manufacturing as part of the local economy.

“Also using the award to impress potential customers has helped in winning a number of new contracts in a difficult time for manufacturing.”

The Most Awesome Use of Digital Media

Brighton has long enjoyed its reputation as the digital hub of the UK, being known the world over as Silicon Beach.

Now local digital media companies are being encouraged to have their work recognised by entering the Most Awesome Use of Digital Media category in the Brighton and Hove Business Awards – the BAHBAs.

The new award has been sponsored by the one of the UK’s leading specialist social media agencies, Nixon McInnes. The judges will be looking to identify those individuals, companies and organisations which do most to raise the bar and enhance Brighton’s reputation for delivering digital goodness on a global scale.

Will McInnes, managing director of NixonMcInnes, said: “Being a Brighton business to our very core, we are fiercely proud of the BAHBAs as a different, riotous and much-deserved celebration of the city’s business community. Brighton is one of the most exciting cities in the coutnry and we expect to see some stunning and innovative work submitted for this award.”

Now in their fifth year, the BAHBAs are firmly established as the city’s premier business awards scheme – with more entries than any similar schemes. Designed to raise awareness and to celebrate the diversity and uniqueness of Brighton & Hove, the BAHBAs acknowledge and celebrate those companies, organisations and individuals who are helping to build the Brighton brand.

Closing date for the Awards is 10 July. Enter online at www.bahba.co.uk

The awards take place on Friday 26 September and will once more be staged in the Oxford Room of the Hilton Brighton Metropole

NixonMcInnes is a specialist social media agency that enables major international brands to make sense of new forms of online social media and technology and then harness them to improve their relationships with the world. Current clients include MoreThan, O2, Fat Face, Thomas Cook Group, University of Southampton, Stannah Stairlifts, BMW, Barclays Bank and Family Investments.

Local employers who care about the health and wellbeing of their staff are being encouraged to enter the 2008 Healthiest Workplace Award, at the Brighton & Hove Business Awards, by Brighton and Hove City Teaching Primary Care Trust (PCT).

It’s the second year the PCT has sponsored this award in the prestigious Brighton and Hove Business Awards (BAHBAs).

“Good health is good business,” says Tom Scanlon, the PCT’s director of public health.

“The city has the highest absenteeism rate in the South East area yet we know many local employers care about the health and well-being of their staff and actively promote healthy living and a healthy work-life balance. Employers around the city are also increasingly taking up the services for staff available through the primary care trust - smoking cessation support, diet and exercise opportunities and mental wellbeing support,” he says.

“We are proud to sponsor the Healthiest Workplace Award for the second year running to recognise the achievements of these employers and look forward to receiving lots of entries,” he adds.

The judges will be looking for the business that does the most to protect and promote the health and wellbeing of its employees while actively promoting healthy living and working conditions.

To find out more and how to enter click on the Brighton & Hove Business Awards website at www.bahbas.org.uk The closing date for entries is Thursday 10 July and the awards event is at the Hilton Brighton Metropole on 26 September.

Paul Bonett, director of the Kemp Town estate agents Bonett’s, was last year’s Healthiest Workplace Award winner.

He says: “It was great to be the first winners of the Healthiest Workplace Award in recognition of our attitude to health, such as cycling to appointments, supporting healthy food choices and out of work sports activities. Encouraging staff to live healthily positively affects your bottom line in more ways than one! Show you care and enter this year’s award.”

Brighton and Hove City Teaching Primary Care Trust is sponsoring the award as part of the partnership work with Brighton and Hove City Council through the Health, Work and Wellbeing initiative with businesses across the city.

“Staff are at the heart of every business. To help businesses promote staff health and wellbeing and realise their business potential, we have also launched a new Health, Work and Wellbeing website with healthy workplace guidelines, information about local training, events and resources to support employers to create businesses fit for the future,” says Louise Sigfrid, healthy workplace adviser.

The new website is at www.workwellbrightonhove.nhs.uk

Chairman of the judges, Tony Mernagh, the Executive Director of the Brighton & Hove Economic Partnership (BHEP), said how much he was looking forward to reviewing the entries, meeting the potential winners and encouraged all those at the reception to get busy and enter.

Caraline Brown, Awards organiser, said: “The BAHBAs have certainly claimed a place in the hearts of the Brighton business community. We are proud of the fact that the Awards attract entries from organisations both large and small, new and established.”

Will McInnes, managing director of NixonMcInnes, proudly unveiled the scheme’s brand new web site which has been redesigned to take full account of the latest digital media tools such as blogging and Facebook.

He said: “Being a Brighton business to our very core, we are fiercely proud of the BAHBAs as a different, riotous and much-deserved celebration of the city’s business community.”

The Awards were officially launched at the Queens Hotel on Wednesday 7 May at a party that was attended by many of the city’s leading businesspeople including the sponsors, judges and last year’s winners and finalists.

The new sponsors take on the following categories

• Royal Mail      The New Kids on the Block

• Allied Irish Bank         The Best Place to Work

• iCrossing        The Outstanding Brightonian Award

Tony said how much he was looking forward to reviewing the entries and meeting the potential winners.

The core judging panel has been drawn from a cross section of the business community to provide a well-balanced and informative opinion as to who should make our 2008 list of finalists.

These include:

• Martyn Willis, managing director of the The Argus
• Alan McCarthy, B&H City Council
• Phil Green, Managing Director of MDHub, and Andrew Toal, Head of Business Services at the University of Brighton both of whom have both been judges since the beginning of the competition.
• Suzanne Heaven, Regional Managing Director, Archant Life South East
• Mike Herd, director, Sussex Innovation Centre

The Most Awesome use of Social Media is sponsored by NixonMcInnes and seeks to identify those individuals, companies and organisations which do most to raise the bar and enhance Brighton’s reputation for delivering digital goodness on a global scale.

The Award for Equality and Diversity in the Workplace celebrates the efforts of businesses in Brighton & Hove to realise the potential of everyone in the local labour market by applying good equality and diversity practices in the workplace.

It will be sponsored by The Brighton & Hove LEADER Group, a network organisation committed to maximising opportunities for employers in the area to realise the potential of our diverse workforce. The Group includes Brighton & Hove City Council, DMH Stallard, EOPPS, Sussex Hospitals, Sussex University, Brighton University and Quantum Recruitment.