Judges get down to work on The Star Small Business Awards

After working through a long list of contenders alone, they will meet at The Star's headquarters to finalise placings in 10 categories.

The contenders are drawn from the hundreds of firms we write about each year and those who put themselves forward after the inaugural awards in 2018.

The ceremony on Wednesday July 17 is hosted by Virgin Money Lounge on Fargate in Sheffield city centre.

Holly Garforth, Virgin Money Lounge events and promotions manager, explained why they went for it.

"We’re delighted to be hosting these awards again and recognising some fantastic small businesses from Sheffield. It’s a real honour to welcome them to Virgin Money Lounge.

"Over the last 40 years, the Virgin brand has become synonymous with business and innovation and wanting to make a positive difference.

"Now we want to put that passion and experience to good use, with Virgin Money helping UK businesses to save, grow and thrive. We’re excited about being able to make a real difference to businesses all around the UK.”

There are 10 categories for firms with fewer than 50 employees and less than £10m turnover:

n New Business

n Customer Service

n Manufacturing/Construction

n Innovation

n People Development & Training

n Technology

n Business Personality/Entrepreneur

n Professional Services

n CSR

n Family Business

The sponsors this year are: Shorts Chartered Accountants, law firm Lupton Fawcett, utilities company XLN for Business, heat treatment specialists Summitglow and Business Sheffield, the city council’s business support function.

Family-owned Summitglow Ltd provides a comprehensive range of heat treatment processes to manufacturers.

Lupton Fawcett LLP is a corporate and commercial law firm with offices in Sheffield, Leeds and York.

Shorts Chartered Accountants is the firm of choice for ambitious businesses and individuals.

Fast growing XLN, based on The Wicker, sells bundles of utilities to the nation’s 2.2m small businesses.

Business Sheffield’s helps start-ups, growing firms and people go self-employed, and businesses expand. All its services are free.

For the winners, The Star promises publicity only the region’s largest media organisation can generate. We’ll run articles every week in print and online. @SheffieldStar has 169,000 followers on Twitter, 128,000 followers on Facebook and David Walsh has 6,000 business connections on LinkedIn.