Fox’s declaration of independence

The awards are open to Chamber members and non members in the region, with a clear goal to recognise and reward the very best firms.

Chamber chief executive Colin Fox said: “This is an entirely new and transparent process working in association with the British Chambers of Commerce and acting on research into dynamic and successful business recognition processes.”

Proving good to his word of making the judging process independent and open he added: “I’m also delighted to announce that we have confirmation of an independent judging panel drawn from four highly respected organisations, The British Chambers of Commerce, Cranfield University and Grant Thornton LLP, with executive representatives of these organisations being joined by the Dean of the University Campus Milton Keynes.”

The headline sponsor for the Business Excellence awards is the University Campus Milton Keynes and the top award, Business of the Year, is sponsored by VW Financial Services.

Stage one of the awards will be launched through the Chamber of Commerce website www.mk-chamber.co.uk in the first week of November.

Businesses can download application forms for one or more of the 10 categories.

Submissions will only be accepted electronically with a deadline of December 18.

A shortlist of three companies for each category will announced the first week in January.

Milton Keynes business networking group, Midsummer Breakfast Club, has pledged support for the awards celebration dinner, which will take place in early March 2013. The venue will be announced shortly following a tender process for event management.

> Contact chief executive Colin Fox by email at 
colin.fox@mk-chamber.co.uk if your company is interested in becoming involved.