2016 Sussex Business Awards winners announced

Five hundred of the county’s leading business people, including the Mayor of Brighton and Hove and Peter Kyle MP, gathered to celebrate business excellence across the region, with 17 awards presented by comedian Simon Evans.

The winners were drawn from 42 finalists representing 27 Sussex towns. The awards were presented at The Grand, Brighton which was shortlisted for Best Customer Service – ultimately awarded to The Dental Barn.

The big winner on the night was Stelfox who won International Business (sponsored by Natures Way Food) and the Best Employer (sponsored by Morgan Sindall).

Title Media were proud media sponsors of SBAs again for 2016 and sponsored The Best Place to Entertain Your Clients award, which is always a tough category due to the huge volume of really quality venues in Sussex. Our very own Sam Harrington-Lowe presenting the award to the very worthy winners Sussex County Cricket Club for their highly impressive venue, The 1st Central County Ground.

The accolade of Company of the Year (sponsored by Mazars) was awarded to International Logistics Group (ILG) who were one of five on the shortlist whilst last year’s winner of the Small Business of the Year, Ridgeview Wine Estate, was named as “One to Watch” in the International Business category.

A number of individual awards were presented to some well-known business faces including Darren Fell, founder and CEO of the innovative Crunch Accounting, who was named Sussex Businessperson of the Year (sponsored by Heart FM).

Sussex Company of the Year: ILG

Sussex Company of the Year: ILG

Popular businessman Andy Cheesman from City Cabs received the award for the Greatest Contribution to Sussex Charity (sponsored by The Argus). Andy sponsors a wide range of events from ‘The Best of British’ to ‘Paddle Round The Pier’, ‘Pride’ and ‘Dragon Boat Racing’ and works tirelessly behind the scenes to help others. He has been a long-standing supporter of Downs View School, Downs View Link College and Chestnut Tree House.

A new category for 2016 was the Sussex Graduate of the Year, sponsored by the University of Sussex, to recognise the achievements of a graduate who has made an impact on a Sussex business. 

This award was presented to Chris O’Hare, the MD of Hare Digital, a digital strategy company that he has built from scratch and now employs 11 people.

Mike Herd, Executive Director of the Sussex Innovation centre and chairman of the judges commented,  “This year was a record year! With the amount of entries received, the judging process proved a difficult task. 

The exceptional quality of the entries really shined through, and many worthy winners were chosen. Congratulations to all the winners!”

2016 Sponsors included Mazars, Morgan Sindall, HSBC, Southern Rail, Vantage Professional Risks, Checkatrade.com, Sussex Innovation Centre, Checkaprofessional.com, Wealden District Council, Sussex Chamber of Commerce, University of Sussex, Natures Way Food, Coffin Mew, The Argus, Platinum Business, Heart FM and Title Sussex.

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SUSSEX BUSINESS AWARDS 2016 WINNERS

The Best Place to Entertain Your Clients – Sponsored by Title Sussex
WINNER Sussex Cricket
FINALIST Blanch House
FINALIST Brighton Fringe
FINALIST East Sussex National

The Award for Healthiest Workplace – Sponsored by Natures Way Food
WINNER Legal & General
FINALIST European Recruitment
FINALIST Scout Shops Ltd

The International Business of the Year – Sponsored by HSBC     
WINNER Stelfox
FINALIST Frontier Pitts
ONE TO WATCH Ridgeview Wine Estate

The Award for Leisure & Tourism – Sponsored by Southern Rail
WINNER The BaseSkate Park CIC
ONE TO WATCH Best of England
FINALIST Smart Performance

The Entrepreneur of the Year – Sponsored by Platinum Business Magazine        
WINNER Neil Laughton, Laughton & Co Ltd
FINALIST Terry Nitman & Steve Hayman, Cheesmur Building Contractors
FINALIST Amber Rust, Bonieri

The Award for the Most Sustainable Business – Sponsored by Wealden District Council
WINNER Burleys
HIGHLY COMMENDED The Big Lemon
FINALIST Green Mop Ltd

The Responsible Business AwardSponsored by Checkaprofessional.com
WINNER LoveLocalJobs.com
HIGHLY COMMENDED ILG
FINALIST Wave Leisure Trust

The Small Business of the Year – Sponsored by Sussex Chamber of Commerce
WINNER Boom Boom The Label
FINALIST Fundraising Auctions Ltd
FINALIST The Dental Barn Ltd

The Award for the Most Promising New Business – Sponsored by Coffin Mew
WINNER Opun
FINALIST The BaseSkate Park CIC
FINALIST SourcedBox

The Award for Innovation in Business – Sponsored by Sussex Innovation Centre
WINNER PULSE.AERO
FINALIST Curry Leaf Café
FINALIST TECO Building Products

The Award for Best Employer – Sponsored by Morgan Sindall
WINNER Stelfox
FINALIST Yelo Architects
FINALIST ILG

The Award for Best Customer Service – Sponsored by Checkatrade.com
WINNER The Dental Barn Ltd
FINALIST The Grand Brighton
FINALIST Welbeing

The Award for Professional Services – Sponsored by Vantage Professional Risks
WINNER Yelo Architects
ONE TO WATCH Robinson Low Francis
HIGHLY COMMENDED Juno Wealth Management

The Sussex Company of the Year – Sponsored by Mazars
WINNER ILG
FINALIST Crunch Accounting
FINALIST The Kitchen Store
FINALIST Newview Homes Ltd
FINALIST Cheesmur Building Contractors

The Sussex Graduate of the Year – Sponsored by University of Sussex
WINNER Chris O’Hare, Hare.Digital
HIGHLY COMMENDED Kate Wood, Brighton Fringe
FINALIST Matt Sears-Black, DMH Stallard

The Greatest Contribution to Sussex Charity – Sponsored by The Argus
WINNER Andy Cheesman, City Cabs
FINALIST Brighton & Hove Buses
FINALIST Carousel

The Sussex Businessperson of the Year – Sponsored by Heart FM
WINNER Darren Fell, Crunch Accounting
FINALIST Stephen Gaffer, Frontier Pitts
HIGHLY COMMENDED Rob Verheul, Graphite Digital

www.sbawards.org.uk – @SussexBizAwards