{"id":114160,"date":"2026-05-09T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/?p=114160"},"modified":"2026-05-06T23:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T13:03:08","slug":"business-awards-nominations-pour-in-at-pace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/news\/business-awards-nominations-pour-in-at-pace\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Awards nominations pour in at pace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE 2026 Bendigo Business Excellence Awards are on track for a bumper year with 815 nominations having been submitted before the 30 April deadline, up almost 25 per cent from 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Nominees now have until Monday 1 June to complete their written applications, with finalists to face category judges in person from early July.<\/p>\n<p>About 200 past award winners and nominees congregated at Bendigo Airport earlier this week to hear from Be.Bendigo CEO Hayley Tibbett, new head judge, Reign Legal&#8217;s Melissa Buchanan, and 2024 Regional Women&#8217;s Business award winner, 3D Physio Health Group&#8217;s Julie Sheahan.<\/p>\n<p>Tibbett said behind every single nomination is a story.<\/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\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2026\/05\/BBEA2_05019.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">New awards head judge Melissa Buchanan said the applications that stand out the most are those that are written with authenticity, with clarity and with direct evidence. Photo: Adam Carswell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A business that&#8217;s backed itself, a team that&#8217;s worked hard, and someone who&#8217;s taken a risk to adapt and to grow and keep showing up,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what these awards are really about.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re about taking a moment to reflect on what you&#8217;ve built, sharing your story and being recognised by your community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Buchanan said the awards are not necessarily about the biggest business, or the longest established or the most competitive financially.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To me the applications that stand out the most are those that are written with authenticity, with clarity and with direct evidence,&#8221; she said.<\/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\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2026\/05\/BBEA32_04973.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">About 200 past Business Awards winners and nominees congregated at Bendigo Airport earlier this week to hear from a number of speakers. Photo: Adam Carswell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Strong applications for us will clearly demonstrate what makes your business really unique, and it comes back to real-life examples.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We love to hear about your personal stories.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If we get to hear why it is that you do what you do, and why you love to do what you do, why that makes you passionate, and why that&#8217;s important to Bendigo, and particularly the clients that you serve, we, as judges, are going to be interested.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Buchanan said the judges are genuinely looking forward to the opportunity to read nominees&#8217; applications and hopefully then meet them in person.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We value the opportunity to hear and learn more about the incredible and diverse business community here in Bendigo,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE 2026 Bendigo Business Excellence Awards are on track for a bumper year with 815 nominations having been submitted before the 30 April deadline, up almost 25 per cent from 2025. Nominees now have until Monday 1 June to complete their written applications, with finalists to face category judges in person from early July. About [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/news\/business-awards-nominations-pour-in-at-pace\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":114165,"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-114160","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 nominations pour in at pace - Bendigo Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bendigo Business Excellence Awards 2026: A record 815 nominations received. 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