51 regional family-owned businesses are through to the final stages of the 10th Anniversary Midlands Family Business Awards, which has seen the highest volume of entries and the highest quality, making it very difficult for the judges to shortlist just six finalists in each category.

Organisers of the Midlands Family Business Awards, The Wilson Organisation say,

“We have a wealth of sectors represented by our 2019 Finalists, with family businesses across the transport, IT, manufacturing, hospitality and leisure, design, print and marketing, building, civil engineering, construction, property and development, food, veterinary, education, funeral services, healthcare, recruitment and retail industries.

“Three new categories were added to mark the 10th anniversary of the Awards, Next Generation Family Business Leader, Construction & Property Excellence and an extra special category called Rising Stars which supports newly established family businesses with a growth support package for 2020.”

CEO, Charlotte Perkins, said: “We would like to say a big thank you to all family businesses that submitted entries. We had some really great interest this year and received a large number of high-calibre entries and this year’s entrants really demonstrated the exceptional standard of family businesses across the region.

“Now in our tenth year, we are incredibly proud of how the Awards have grown year on year. The Awards are the UK’s only independent initiative dedicated to celebrating and recognising the success, achievements and innovations of family run and owned businesses.

“A big congratulations to all our finalists.  We wish all finalists the best of luck when they come face to face with judges in the final round and look forward to seeing you all at the black-tie awards dinner on 7th November.”

Finalists will now meet the Awards’ individual category independent judging panels, led by a leading individual of each family business, an industry expert, a sponsor representative and a representative from the Midlands Family Business Awards team. All finalists are entered into the People’s Choice Award, voted by the public.

Taking place on Thursday 7th November at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, the black-tie awards dinner will be attended over 300 guests including awards finalists, independent judges and sponsors.

Main sponsors for the 2019 awards are OrderWise, Buckles Solicitors, PwC, Shakespeare Martineau, Streets Chartered Accountants and Ward Recycling.

The much-deserving Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance and The Midlands Air Ambulance are the charities that the awards will be supporting this year.

The full line up of Finalists for 2019 is:

Family Business of the Year (sponsored by OrderWise)

• Award Leisure
• Charles Bentley & Son
• Johnsons Coach and Bus Travel
• Network Telecom
• The Wilkins Group
• UK Meds

Best Small Family Business

• F Hunt Coach Hire
• Howells Patent Glazing
• Payara Services
• Petwood Hotel
• Systematic
• The Wool Packaging Company

Construction & Property Excellence

• Andrews Building Supplies
• Farrow Walsh Consulting
• Hodgkinson Builders
• O’Keeffe Building Services
• S Brown Paving
• Spenbeck

Corporate Social Responsibility (Sponsored by Ward Recycling)

• Bright Side Vets
• Bumble Hole Foods
• Jupiter group
• Oakland International
• Systematic
• The Lincoln Tea and Coffee Company

Employer of the Year (Sponsored by Buckles Solicitors)

• Absolute Works
• CR Civil Engineering
• Lobina Transport Services
• Price & Fretwell
• Total Reclaims Demolition
• Trans-Sport.tv

Fastest Growing Family Business (sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers)

• Absolute Apparel
• Imperial GB
• Juice Sauz
• Jupiter Group
• UK Meds
• Vanilla Underground

Next Generation Family Business Leader (sponsored by Shakespeare Martineau LLP)

• A W Lymn – Matthew Lymn Rose
• Attend EDC – Matthew Hogg
• Ballards Removals – Matthew Ballard
• Global Solutions for Clothing – Harrison Palmer
• River Canal Rescue – Jay Forman
• Streets Heaver – Benedict Heaver

Manufacturing Excellence (sponsored by The Wilson Organisation)

• Charles Bentley & Son
• Clifton Packaging
• Grayson Thermal Systems
• Jointine Products
• Juice Sauz
• SuperFOIL Insulation

Rising Stars

• Bright Side Vets
• Daily Bread Yoga & Wellness
• Liberate IT Services
• Recruit 2 You
• SMART Balustrades
• Your Buddys World

Service Excellence

• Absolute Works
• Andrews Building Supplies
• Erwin Hymer Centre Travelworld
• G Seller & Co
• Johnsons Coach and Bus Travel
• Premier Care by Premier Community

Find out more about the awards, here