People development, international growth and digital transformation were among qualities recognised at East Midlands Chamber’s Nottinghamshire Business Awards 2025/26 on 12th March.
A landmark event in the Chamber calendar, the Awards were delivered in partnership with headline sponsor Vertas at The Renaissance at Kelham Hall, hosted by East Midlands radio personalities Jo and Sparky.
Recipients of 12 award categories were announced, with the coveted Business of the Year Award, sponsored by Vertas, going to the Gene Haas Centre for Advanced Manufacturing at West Nottinghamshire College, after it first received the Collaboration of the Year Award.
The ceremony was the second in a series to be delivered by East Midlands Chamber in 2026 after the Leicestershire Business Awards in February. The next to take place – the Derbyshire Business Awards – will be held at Derby’s Pride Park Stadium on 26th March.
East Midlands Chamber Chief Executive Scott Knowles said: “Nottinghamshire is known the world over for its rich history of making, creating and is home to some of the country and the world’s best innovation. Whether skill in trading within the county or far and wide at international level, what I see continually across Nottinghamshire’s business community is a forward-thinking approach, focused on overcoming challenges, seizing opportunity and on growth.
“The Nottinghamshire Business Awards are a special moment in the calendar where valuable connections are built and people at every role in a firm can share its recognition. Outstanding achievement is showcased, whether across the whole business, an inspirational leader or promising apprentice.
“Congratulations to all the finalists and to the category winners for their amazing achievements. I would like to thank all the sponsors and partners for their part in delivering such a memorable event.”
Vertas were the headline sponsor, partnering on the event. Managing Director Keith Buet said: “With our new joint venture now embedded in Nottinghamshire, sponsoring the Business Awards is a meaningful way for us to engage with the wider business community. The awards champion the values we believe in.
“Collaboration, excellence and investment in people. We’re proud to support an event that recognises the organisations and individuals driving growth across the county.”
West Nottinghamshire College Principal and CEO Andrew Cropley MBE, speaking after the Gene Haas Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, based at the College, won the flagship Business of the Year Award, said: “The Gene Haas Centre is an inspirational place that makes young people want to become engineers, helps them to become brilliant engineers. I hope the Centre inspires other local businesses to believe they can grow and invest and create more jobs for other young people.
“It’s one of many great projects at West Nottinghamshire College, probably the highest profile. We are the UK’s first Gene Haas Centre and it’s a great example that Mansfield and Ashfield can be at the front of great things happening in our country.
“We love being part of the Chamber Business Awards. We don’t enter national awards. We always get involved with these awards because they’re about celebrating with businesses that are in our community, who we’re trying to serve, who are trying to help us, it’s where we’re all going.”
The Digital Transformation Award, sponsored by NetMonkeys went to Blue Stamp Travel. Speaking afterwards, Blue Stamp Travel Managing Director Steve Manderson said: “We put a lot of work into digital transformation, so we’re really pleased to have received this award. We work across the country so it’s our shop window. As a result of a lot of what we’ve done, it’s international as well.
“Our digital journey helps us grow, helps us be more efficient in what we do. It’s a big part of what we provide our customers and a big part of the company.”
NetMonkeys Managing Director Nick Gall said: “If you’re trying to innovate in any way with digital transformation, it has to turn up revenue, it has to make it easier for the staff and Blue Stamp Travel did all of that. That’s why they won but that’s also why we sponsored this award.”
The CSR Leadership Award, sponsored by Vaughandale Construction, went to Cartwright. Speaking afterwards, Director Fran Prince said: “I’m so proud of our team. We’ve put so many hours into community initiatives. We’ve got partners across the whole of Nottingham and we work with educational institutions through to those that are under underserved in communities.”
The Green Business of the Year Award, sponsored by Blueprint, went to Baxter Freight. Speaking afterwards, Associate Director of Accelerate UK Jamie Reid said: “The whole team has worked really hard. Everybody has contributed to us receiving this award and we continue because it’s what we strongly believe is the right thing.
“My advice to businesses on their journey to becoming more green is do it. You can make small changes – they make a big difference. It can be as small as turning the lights off when you leave the room. It doesn’t have to cost you any money; it will save you money but it will also help save the planet.”
The Commitment to People Development Award, sponsored by Peritus, went to Vaughandale Construction. Marketing and Business Development Consultant Martin Heartfield said:
“We’re absolutely thrilled to have won this award and we keep developing. Considering 95% of our workforce has been with the company for over 15 or 20 years, it’s an absolutely fantastic achievement. We’re delighted for all the staff because without the staff, we wouldn’t be the fantastic company we are.”
Peritus Learning sponsored the award category. Head of Operations Vik Lad said: “It was really important to us to be able to sponsor this award. We’re a company based on learning and development so it’s great to see another organisation that’s going to impact their people. To be able to present that award today has been a great honour.”
The Apprentice of the Year Award, in association with Generation Next, went to Oliver Whitehouse of Murphy and Son. Speaking afterwards he said: “To win has been an amazing feeling. Apprenticeships are so good for the future generation. I’ve worked hard for it and the business gave me a lot of freedom to be able to learn lots of new skills.”
East Midlands radio personalities Jo and Sparky are hosting all three regional ceremonies in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire. Presenter and Podcaster Jo Russell said: “In the East Midlands there’s a real sense of everybody helping everybody. That’s why we love the region so much. When we’ve been on the radio, we’ve been able to put feelers out if somebody in the region needed some help. We’d get so many people going, ‘we’ll help, we’ll do it’. People want to look after each other here.
“The Awards celebrate how great local businesses are, let them can mingle, network and celebrate.”
Sparky said: “We’re passionate about the East Midlands. We’ve been lucky enough to broadcast here for the last 10 years. Celebrating wins like this, especially for business, for local business, that’s part of the landscape that we’ve been part of.”
East Midlands Chamber Nottinghamshire Business Awards 2025/6 recipients:
Business of the Year Award – sponsored by Vertas and selected from award recipients from all categories
WINNER: Gene Haas Centre for Advanced Manufacturing
Digital Transformation Award – sponsored by NetMonkeys
WINNER: Blue Stamp Travel
CSR Leadership Award – sponsored by Vaughandale Construction
WINNER: Cartwright
Collaboration of the Year Award – sponsored by Eversheds Sutherland
WINNER: Gene Haas Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, West Nottinghamshire College
Green Business of the Year Award – in association with Blueprint
WINNER: Baxter Freight
Commitment to People Development Award – sponsored by Peritus
WINNER: Vaughandale Construction
Apprentice of the Year Award – in association with Generation Next
WINNER: Oliver Whitehouse – Murphy & Son
Excellence in International Growth Award – sponsored by DHL
WINNER: Batfast
Education and Business Partnership of the Year Award – sponsored by Step
WINNER: West Nottinghamshire College
Excellence in Customer Service Award – sponsored by Express Recruitment
WINNER: Copley Scientific
Micro Business of the Year Award – sponsored by Headway Nottingham
WINNER: Cosy Garden Rooms
Small Business of the Year Award – sponsored by Your IT Department
WINNER: First Enterprise
Innovation of the Year Award – sponsored by Nottingham Trent University
WINNER: Batfast
