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 Monday 14 April. The deadline for receiving entry forms is now 1pm on Thursday 24 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 are entitled to one subsidisded 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 Thursday 24 April at 1pm

Please note that the deadline for entering HBA25 is now 1pm on Thursday  24 April. Please note that entries will not be accepted after this time. Judging will commence on Friday 25 April.

Please be aware that it may take anything from one to three hours to fill in the entry forms, 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. We are trialling new software AwardX which will handle entries. When you’ve registered on AwardX it will send you an email to verify your email address. When you click the link to verify you can then access the AwardX dashboard

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. We are trialling new software AwardX which the applications will be done via. When you’ve registered you will need to verify your email address.

How do I use the online form?

The AwardX dashboard has a short video to watch to tell you how to apply. Just click the ‘View Categories’ box and you can enter up to 4 categories, plus the Apprentice of the Year category. 

Please note that some categories have eligibility criteria, please do check that your business meets these before applying. 

The new process is different to if you’ve applied before, you now submit a different form per Category. The Generic Answers at the top of each form will auto-populate across all your entries, should you wish to enter more than one Category. If you update them on any entry it will also update them across all entries.

There is a Save/Submit button. Please do save your Form(s) regularly in case of any connectivity issues, and do save them if there may be a period of inactivity on the form

You can then see the forms on your dashboard. They can be edited right up to the deadline date. At that point the will be submitted to judging.

NB! If you started to enter a given Category then decide against it, you can delete the form from your dashboard. Any incomplete forms will be checked and not sent through for judging.

Help I'm having problems with my password!

If you’ve lost your password please locate the original sign-up email from AwardX and click the button to reset it

I'm having problems with my Online Form

Please contact us via the Contact Form, it would be extremely helpful if you can provide as much detail as possible so we can help you as best we can.

WE HOPE WE’VE ANSWERED YOUR QUESTIONS!

Thank you to our 2025 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 2025 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.

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