Business awards celebrate success

SIX hundred people gathered at the Mercure Ballarat last week to celebrate the winners of the 2022 Federation University Commerce Ballarat Business Excellence awards.

The building was filled with applause as local business representatives took home prizes in 16 categories as well as the coveted Business of the Year Award.

Commerce Ballarat board chair Hayley Coates said it was important to see the winners’ efforts acknowledged.

“It was a great success and it was fantastic to be back in the room with all of our finalists and award winners to celebrate as one,” she said.

“The joy on the winners’ faces and their excitement when their names were announced just showed how much effort goes into this and how much stock they put in winning that award.

“The ability of the businesses to be creative and come up with different ways to get through the difficult times has shown this set of winners are really up there with the very best.”

The winners were decided out of 39 finalists and came from a pool 139 applicants with the awards process getting underway in March.

This year marked the first in-person celebration of the event in three years, and Ms Coates said the night also served as a celebration of the businesses’ endurance through the pandemic.

“It’s not the same doing it virtually and sending these out in a contactless way. It means so much more to be able to shake a winner’s hand and give them the award in-person,” she said.

“There was definitely some recognition that even still being in business is an achievement so to be excelling at the level of winning an award is just over and beyond.”