{"id":112920,"date":"2026-04-03T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/?p=112920"},"modified":"2026-04-02T22:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T11:52:07","slug":"business-awards-pivot-for-posterity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/news\/business-awards-pivot-for-posterity\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Awards pivot for posterity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NOMINATIONS for the 2026 Bendigo Bank and Be.Bendigo Business Excellence Awards are now open, with customers, employees and business owners encouraged to nominate a deserving local business online.<\/p>\n<p>Now in its 31st year, several new award categories have been added to the program, including Employer of Choice, Retail, Micro &amp; Home-Based Business, and Education &amp; Training.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, several existing categories have been reshaped &#8211; including Hospitality, Tourism &amp; Experiences, Regional Women in Business and Trade Business.<\/p>\n<p>Be.Bendigo CEO Hayley Tibbett paid homage to the three-decades-long tenure of the awards.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Reaching the 31st edition of the program is a testament to the strength, resilience and innovation of businesses across Greater Bendigo,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Each year the program evolves alongside our business community.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For 2026 we&#8217;ve refreshed several categories to ensure the awards remain inclusive and relevant, allowing a wider range of businesses, industries and entrepreneurs to participate and be recognised.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2026\/04\/BBEA4_71549.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">INSET: Jacqui Naunton, representing the 2025 Small and Succeeding Award winner White Deer, reflected on last year&#8217;s triumph at the awards launch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We encourage everyone to get involved and nominate a business or individual whose work deserves to be celebrated.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bendigo Bank&#8217;s business banking regional manager (Vic North) Leigh Hooley said the bank is proud to continue its long-standing partnership with the awards.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The program plays an important role in recognising the innovation,<\/p>\n<p>dedication and entrepreneurial spirit that exists throughout the Greater Bendigo business community,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We look forward to celebrating the achievements of local businesses once again in 2026 and acknowledging the organisations and individuals contributing to the continued growth of our region.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Nominations close at midnight on Thursday 30 April at the <a href=\"https:\/\/bbea.com.au\/\">Business Excellence Awards website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The program culminates with the Awards Gala Dinner at Red Energy Arena on Thursday, 13 August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NOMINATIONS for the 2026 Bendigo Bank and Be.Bendigo Business Excellence Awards are now open, with customers, employees and business owners encouraged to nominate a deserving local business online. Now in its 31st year, several new award categories have been added to the program, including Employer of Choice, Retail, Micro &amp; Home-Based Business, and Education &amp; [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/news\/business-awards-pivot-for-posterity\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":112924,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-112920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Business Awards pivot for posterity - Bendigo Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nominate local stars for the 2026 Bendigo Business Excellence Awards. Celebrate innovation across Greater Bendigo. Entries close April 30!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/news\/business-awards-pivot-for-posterity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business Awards pivot for posterity - Bendigo Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nominate local stars for the 2026 Bendigo Business Excellence Awards. Celebrate innovation across Greater Bendigo. Entries close April 30!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/news\/business-awards-pivot-for-posterity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bendigo Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-02T17:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2026\/04\/Tng-1-April-2026-9.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adam Carswell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adam Carswell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/business-awards-pivot-for-posterity\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/business-awards-pivot-for-posterity\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Adam Carswell\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/adf4371b5a9ae0b61f7839c29319f35c\"},\"headline\":\"Business Awards pivot for posterity\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-02T17:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/business-awards-pivot-for-posterity\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":307,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/business-awards-pivot-for-posterity\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/24\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Tng-1-April-2026-9.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/business-awards-pivot-for-posterity\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/business-awards-pivot-for-posterity\\\/\",\"name\":\"Business Awards pivot for posterity - Bendigo Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/business-awards-pivot-for-posterity\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/business-awards-pivot-for-posterity\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/24\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Tng-1-April-2026-9.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-02T17:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Nominate local stars for the 2026 Bendigo Business Excellence Awards. 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