LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AWARDS BELOW

Q&A – How the Awards Work

We’ve put together a list of handy Q&A regarding the awards nominations, judging process and ceremony. You should find the answers to any questions below. We’ve now added a special section on How to fill in the online application too. Please scroll down to access that. If after reading through you still have a query, please contact us via the Contact Page.

When do 2025 nominations open and close?

Nominations for 2025 open on 9am Thursday 3 April and close at 9am on Thursday 17 April. The deadline for receiving entry forms is 5pm on Monday 28 April.

When does the 2025 ceremony take place?

The 2025 Hyndburn Business Awards ceremony will take place on Thursday 12 June at The Dunkenhalgh Hotel.

What Sponsorship Opportunities are there for the 2025 awards?

All sponsorship opportunities can be viewed at this link. They include Award Category sponsorship, Ceremony and Entertainment sponsorships and more and start at just £350.

How do you nominate a business for the awards?

When nomination opens you can nominate a business by clicking on the Nominate tab on the navigation bar and filling in the form. Before nominations open, and after they close, the form will not be available.

What constitutes a Hyndburn business?

The awards are open to all Hyndburn based businesses and not for profit organisations. One of the three criteria below must apply to a business for it to be eligible for nomination / entry to the awards

1. They have business premises for which they pay business rates to Hyndburn Council

2. They do not have business premises, their business address is their home address and they pay council tax to Hyndburn Council

3. They do not pay business rates or council tax to Ribble Valley Council, they own / operate a purchased business franchise for the Hyndburn area and deliver services in physical locations in the Ribble Valley

NB! We use a Local Authority checker on the .gov.uk website to ascertain which council the business is under, this can be accessed here to check a given business’s location

Can I nominate a business based outside of Hyndburn?

Hyndburn Business Awards celebrates businesses and organisations within Hyndburn. Only businesses located within Hyndburn can enter. If nominated businesses fall outside of this remit, they won’t be shouted-out or invited to enter the awards.

How many businesses can I nominate?

Please nominate as many businesses as you like, the more the merrier! To nominate again, just refresh / reload the Nomination page after nominating.

Is it good to nominate businesses multiple times - does the awards count that as votes?

There is no voting aspect to the awards. A nomination entitles the nominated business to enter the awards. See below for how the awards are judged.

I live outside of Hyndburn, can I nominate a business?

Yes, of course. Nominations can be made by anyone.

Can I nominate my own business?

Nominations can be made by anyone outside of your business, why not ask a supplier or customer to nominate you. They don’t nominate you for a given award, a nomination entitles you to enter all categories you’re eligible for. See below for more information.

What happens when a business is nominated?

Nominated businesses will receive a shoutout on Facebook and can enter immediately, details will be on the shoutout. When nominations close, all nominated businesses will be sent an email notification too (if we have your email address). Emails may go into junk or spam folders, or the Promotions folder if you use Gmail. Sometimes we will need to contact you to ask for an email address, we may do this via Facebook message.

How are the entries judged and shortlisted?

Our core panel of judges from across Hyndburn will read through all entry forms and decide, collectively, on who should be shortlisted. For each award, the judging panel will also include the sponsor.

When will the shortlisted businesses / finalists be announced?

The shortlisted businesses / finalists for each category will be announced via social media on Thursday 16 May 2024.

How are the winners decided?

A designated Judgement Day will see the judges meet with each sponsor throughout the day to discuss and debate the winner of each category. This information will remain Top Secret until winners are revealed at the awards ceremony.

How do we buy tickets for the Awards Ceremony?

Ticket booking will open once the finalists are announced. Businesses shortlisted for an award automatically get allocated one free ticket to the ceremony and will be given the option to purchase additional guest tickets.

Ticket priority is given to finalists and sponsors. Tickets can be purchased online, via a unique link, which will be sent to finalists once announced. General admission tickets may be available, please contact us here if you are interested in attending.

What time will the awards ceremony start?

For our live ceremony, the doors and bar will normally open at 5.45pm. The meal will be served from 6.45pm and the awards will be presented between 8.45pm and 10.30pm. The final award to be presented will be the Beacon Award.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ONLINE ENTRY BELOW

Q&A – How to Enter Online

Entry is now fully online, we’ve put together a list of handy Q&A below. If after reading through the Q&A you still have a query, please contact us via the Contact Page.

Entry deadline for 2025 is Monday 28 April at 5pm!

Please note that the deadline for entering HBA25 is 5pm on Monday 28 April. Please note that entries will not be accepted after this time. Judging will commence on Tuesday 29 April.

Please be aware that it may take anything from one to three hours to fill in the form, depending on the amount you wish to share, so please leave a decent amount of time. As above, late entries will not be accepted as entries will be collated and sent out to our judges that afternoon.

Where will I find the online Entry Form?

Nominated businesses can register at this link. If you have already registered, you can locate the entry form at this link

I've been nominated and had my social shoutout how do I enter, do I need to wait for an email?

If you have been nominated you can enter immediately and register via this link, you do not need to wait for an email. Emails will also be sent to all nominees when nominations close on Thursday 13 April.

Please check your junk and spam folders for an email from Hyndburn Business Awards. If you are a Gmail user, please check your Promotions inbox (Gmail has 3 inboxes). If you still can’t find your email please contact us via the Contact page with your business name and email address and we will send it to the address you supply.

Why has HBA changed to online entry?

We wanted to make it easier to enter the awards. The new online form is a smart-form and will help you decide which of the many award categories to enter (you are welcome to enter as many as you are eligible for). You can also save the form at any time, and return to it later.

How do I navigate through the online form?

The MOVE ON TO NEXT PAGE button will save progress and take you to the next page (it is located bottom right of each page). You need to fill in the fields on that page before progressing

The PREVIOUS PAGE button will take you to the previous page (located bottom left of each page). This is handy if you’d like to check or amend any answers

The SAVE PROGRESS & EXIT button allows you to save the form, close the window and return to it later (it is located underneath the last question on each page, above the PREVIOUS PAGE button). Return to the form at any time

The SUBMIT button on the last page must be clicked to fully submit the form and enter the 2022 awards (once you’re happy with your answers). The deadline for submission is midnight on Sunday 6 February

How many pages does the online form have?

There are five main Page Headings which are displayed at the top of the form. They are General Info, Judging Info (1) & (2), Categories, and Last Page.

Some award categories, eg. Customer Friendly Business have extra questions to answer. These will be added as Page Headings. So, depending on the categories you choose to enter, you may have extra Page Headings, or may not.

 

Can you navigate through form using the Page Headings?

You can only navigate through the form using the Page Headings if you have already filled in the given page. When returning to the form after saving, you can click a Page Heading to get to the page you need, or just scroll down and click the NEXT button until you reach the desired page

How do you submit your online form?

The SUBMIT button on the last page must be clicked to fully submit the form and enter the 2023 awards, once you’re happy with your answers. The deadline for submission is 11am (in the morning) on Thursday 20 April. Entries will not be accepted after this time.

How do you submit your online form & what happens?

The SUBMIT button on the last page must be clicked to fully submit the form and enter the 2023 awards, once you’re happy with your answers. The deadline for submission is as above. Entries will not be accepted after this time.

The screen will display a ‘Successful submission’ message and the form will have been submitted. You will also be sent an email confirmation. If you cannot see the email please check your junk/spam folders – if using Gmail you will need to check the Promotions inbox too (Gmail has three inboxes).

If you go back into the form you may still be able to see your answers, this is not a fault and you do not need to resubmit.

The deadline for submission is given above.

 

Help I've lost my password!

If you’ve lost your password you can reset it using the email address you registered with here: Reset Password

I'm having problems with my Online Form!

We have had (thankfully!) very few issues with the online forms, we have had a few technical quirks reported though, the information below should help:

Most text box fields have a word count on them. This should function just fine on desktops and laptops but on the odd occasion it may not function as expected on mobile devices or iPads. If you are using a mobile phone or iPad and the word count isn’t working please don’t worry, just fill the fields in as normal. Using a desktop or laptop and it isn’t working? The form counts words as you type – so if you’ve written your information somewhere else in a text editor (for example, in a Microsoft Word document) – then have copied and pasted it into the form, it may get confused and not show correctly. If there’s a word count on the text editor you’re using then that will help you stay within the word count. If there isn’t, then as long as you’ve not copied War and Peace it’s fine!

Paragraph formatting on mobile devices. We’ve had a few reports of people going back into their forms and seeing their formatted paragraphs / answers having lost line breaks and morphing into one large paragraph. Don’t worry about this, it sorts out at our end.

If you are having any other problems while you’re filling in the form, please click the SAVE PROGRESS & EXIT button at the bottom of the page. Then clear your browser cache and log back in via this User Login page link using the email and password you registered with. You can then re-access your form from that page.

If you’re having problems accessing your form, clear your browser cache and log back in via this User Login page link using the email and password you registered with and you should be able to reaccess the form from that link once signed back in.

If you’ve lost your password you can reset it here Reset Password using the email address you registered with

If you’re having a problem submitting your completed form using the SUBMIT button, please check all fields have been filled in and none have an error mesage. If you can’t see a problem, please click the SAVE PROGRESS & EXIT button at the bottom of the page. Then clear your browser cache and log back in using the email and password you registered with at our User Login page. Page back through the form, then try the SUBMIT button again. It should work then. If problems persist, please send your email address and password to the team, and problem you’re having via the Contact Page and we’ll sort it for you.

WE HOPE WE’VE ANSWERED YOUR QUESTIONS!

Thank you to our 2024 Award & Ceremony Sponsors

We are very grateful to our Sponsors, whose support allows us to deliver the awards administration and ceremony, year on year. Our 2024 Headline Sponsor is NORI HR & Employment Law.

The awards are run by the lovelocalsolutions group with the support of many volunteers and organisations across the borough. Please view our Sponsorship Opportunities by clicking here, or via the tab above and do contact us if you would like to sponsor, or support the awards.

NORI logo
LLS LOGO
ACORN LOGO
ACORN LOGO
ACORN LOGO
WHN LOGO
WHN LOGO
ACORN LOGO
ACORN LOGO
elc LOGO
WHN LOGO
HBC logo
HBC logo
mercure logo
mercure logo
nccg logo
nccg logo
nccg logo
nccg logo
UNQUE LADIES LOGO
UNQUE LADIES LOGO
WHN LOGO