Short list for Chamber Business Awards

Thirty-four local businesses have been shortlisted for this year’s Kilkenny Business Awards, which will be presented at a black-tie event hosted by Kilkenny Chamber on November 24 in the Lyrath estate Hotel.

The nominees in each category include:

Age Friendly: Pembroke Hotel, Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, Health Express Pharmacy

Communications: Midas PR, MD Media, Instant Opinion

Craft: Seven Sisters Ceramics, Carl Parket Jewellers, Rebeka Patterson

Customer Service: Aut Even Hospital, Marble City Travel, Pembroke Hotel

Emerging New Business: MD Media, Seven Sisters Ceramics, Jerpoint Park

Employee: Goods High Street, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Kilkenny Leader Partnership

Employer, McCreery Cleaning, Pembroke Hotel, FRS Recruitment

Exporter, Hybrid Energy Solutions, Merlyn Industries Glanbia

Family Business: Eurospar Newpark, Lowry’s Furniture and Garden Centre, Kenna’s Butchers

Food Producer: Highbank Farm, Balief Farm, Glanbia

Green Business: McCreery Cleaning, Hybrid Energy Solutions, Highbank Farm

Heritage: Jerpoint Park, Rothe House, Tom Brett Photography

Innovation: Hybrid Energy Solutions, Trudies Catering, Instant Opinion, Kilkenny Fashion Festival

Invest In Skills: McCreery Cleaning, Next (MacDonagh Junction), Gaeltec

Retailer: Health Express Pharmacy, Eurospar Newpark, Lamber De Bie

Service Provider: Aut Even Hospital, Marble City Travel, St Canice’s Kilkenny Credit Union

Small Business: Lamber De Bie, Midas PR, Highbank Farm

Tourism: Kilkenny Arts Festival, Trail Kilkenny, Kilkenny Fashion Festival

The night will also see presentations of Business of the Year, a Diaspora Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award and a President’s Award.

Guest of honour will be Health Minister James Reilly, who will present the major award to the overall winner of the Business of the Year along with Chamber’s Business Awards title sponsors Glanbia Plc.

“This event is very much about a ‘celebration of business’ in these difficult times and people constantly tell us that the recognition provided by the awards gives a tremendous boost to their businesses in terms of staff morale, public profile and the bottom line. This year the awards are bigger and better than ever and we’ve expanded the categories to properly reflect the breadth of business in the area,” said Chamber president Donie Butler.

An independent panel of jurors headed up by Geraldine Kearney of the awards title sponsors Glanbia will shortly be conducting the interviews with each nominee, resulting in the final decisions being made in the coming weeks.

Tickets to the event are now on sale – contact 056 7752767 or admin@kilkennychamber.ie. There is a special price concession for all nominated businesses, available until November 8.