Customers have their chance to vote for their favourite local business and North West Employee of the Year in the new North West Family Business Awards.

The People’s Choice Awards allows each region to vote for its favourite family business, with one winner chosen per region – Cumbria, Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester. And you can also vote for the overall North West Employee of the Year 2020.

Hundreds of nominations and entries were received for the awards and judges were invited to take on the difficult task of going through each one to select the finalists for the 2020 Awards – now you can go online and cast your vote to choose the winners.

Over 4.300 have already cast their vote for the People’s Choice and over 2,500 for the Employee of the Year. Your vote will make all the difference to who wins the awards.

People’s Choice Cumbria sponsors are Cartmell Shepherd. Their team of judges were impressed by the vast variety of businesses, their ability to contribute to their communities and their approach to sustainability.

Peter Stafford, Cartmell Shepherd’s Managing Director, said: “We like the public involvement element in this award, as it opens-up the category to all businesses, making it much more inclusive. It gives people the opportunity to vote for the businesses they use and appreciate.

“Cumbria is a big county in size, if one of the smallest in population, and we are keen to be involved in an award which gives everyone an equal opportunity.

“You could be a small, family-run shop or large manufacturer that offers excellent service, and if your customers want to see your business recognised, they can vote for you.”

Enterprise Answers sponsor The People’s Choice Lancashire Award.

Grahame Latus, Chief Executive of Enterprise Answers, explained: “We are proud to be part of the North West Family Business Awards, as we are passionate about and believe in family businesses.

“I believe the public vote for this award is a lovely idea. It gives the public the opportunity to appreciate what I appreciate about family businesses — handing the power to the public and those who use their services.

The Employee of the Year category celebrates the amazing employees who go above and beyond. The finalists were selected by NXT, sponsors of the category.

Co-founder and director of NXT, Simon Glencross said: “As both a family business ourselves and a recruitment agency, we understand only too well that there is nobody more important in helping you to achieve the vision you have for your organisation than the team around you.

“Outstanding employees can transform a business and be the key to its success.

“We cannot emphasise enough how excited we are to have judged this category and selected the finalists for the public vote, to meet and host the finalists and next to see who will receive the North West Employee of the Year Award on March 6.”

Founder and co-director of the North West Family Business Awards, Sue Howorth said: “The People’s Choice Awards were open to family businesses of all sizes. The judges’ scores, together with the public vote, will determine the winner of the People’s Choice Lancashire Award 2020.

“You can vote for your favourite business and the North West Employee of the Year now, and up until the day before the awards ceremony in Manchester on March 6, 2020, by visiting The North West Family Business Awards website – so get voting now!”

Co-director of The North West Family Business Awards, Dave Clarkson said: “We are looking forward to the People’s Choice and Employee of the Year awards. These are ultimately decided by customers and people who know the excellent service they receive from the businesses they give their vote to.

“With our host for the evening, food writer and presenter Nigel Barden, we will celebrate in first-class style at the Concorde Hanger at Manchester Airport’s Runway Visitor Centre, under the wings of Concorde. It is an evening not to be missed.”

You can follow the awards on social media with the hashtags #NWFBA202 and #WeAreNorthWest.

For further information about the Family Business Network visit: https://fambiznet.co.uk

Don’t forget to cast your vote for the People’ Choice Award and the Employee of the Year awards here