Pictured above: Hilary Campton, project manager of the all-new not-for-profit Midlands Family Business Awards, entries for which open on the 4th May until the 30th June

The search for the Midlands best family businesses and their leaders is officially 'on' with online nominations for the all-new Midlands Family Business Awards initiative, live and open from  Tuesday 4th May 2010.

The not-for-profit Awards, launched in March and underwritten by leading insurance broker and financial advisor The Wilson Organisation, is looking for nominations from the region's best run family-run businesses and their leaders.

Based on the level of interest in the Awards since their launch, organisers are predicting a high number of nominations, as project manager Hilary Campton explains:

"Since the Awards' official launch in Leicester, the number of visitors to the website has surpassed all expectations and there seems to be a real 'buzz' across the region about the Awards, which will for the first time turn the spotlight on the Midlands' family businesses.

"All entries are completely free of charge and can be made online at the website www.familybusinessawards.co.uk from the 4th May until the 30th June; the process has been created to be as quick and easy as possible, with clear explanations and information about each category and the information required, at every step of the way.

"Businesses can enter as many categories as they wish and for which they are eligible, and the Awards are open to any Midlands-based family business regardless of their size or industry sector. Businesses can also make submissions on behalf of clients' or friends' family businesses," she says.

Headline category of the new Awards scheme - The Family Business of the Year - is sponsored by RSM Tenon, with other individual category sponsors including EFG Private Bank, Connect Midlands, Aviva, Young & Pearce Solicitors, AXA Elevate, Blusource and The Mitre Group, with additional support from Regional Development Agency emda. 

Further Awards categories will recognise: 'Best development of talent', 'Overcoming adversity', 'Personal excellence', 'Development of international markets', 'Business innovation of the year', 'Fastest growing family business', 'Commitment to the community', 'Leading adviser to family businesses', and 'Best newly established family business'.

Designed as a not-for-profit venture, all proceeds from the Awards will go to charities supporting young enterprise and young people - The Children's Society, a leading children's charity committed to making childhood better for all children in the UK, The Willow Foundation that provides special days for seriously ill young adults, and The Venture Foundation, which offers educational, health and fitness programmes to young people considered 'at risk' and who have fallen out of the education and care system.

The Awards have secured a panel of independent inspirational judges drawn from leading family businesses from across the UK, with individual judges' assigned responsibility for individual categories. The panel includes James Timpson (MD, Timpson), Tim Storer (MD, Pukka Pies), Peter Thornton (former Chairman of Thorntons plc), Peter Leach (author, Family Businesses: The Essentials), Grant Gordon (Director General, Institute for Family Business), Judy Naake (founder, St Tropez), Carrie Rubins (Director, Pentland Group) and Mark Samworth (Samworth Brothers). 

"Once all the entries have been received, the judges will assess the submissions and decide on a shortlist of five businesses for each of the ten categories," says Hilary. "Shortlisted businesses will be invited to an informal interview with the judging panel during September. The judges for each category will then have the unenviable task of whittling down their shortlist to two runners-up and a winner, who will be announced at the glittering awards ceremony on 11 November."

For more information and to complete a free, online entry to the 2010 Midlands Family Business Awards, contact Wilsons' Marketing Manager Leah Bradley, email: lbradley@wilorg.com.

The Wilson Organisation, based in Nottingham, provides professional independent insurance, financial, risk management and corporate finance solutions to businesses and individuals both regionally and nationally. It is a Top 100 UK independent broker and has developed innovative solutions through strong relationships with insurers and financial services providers.