Due to a lack of nominations, the Inverell Chamber of Commerce have cancelled the 2018 Business Awards.
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Nominations re-closed for the third time on Monday however the Chamber were not comfortable moving forward with the low number of nominations.
President Josh McPhee said there were a few factors contributing to the disappointing numbers.
“I think it was the more in depth, involved process this year that hurt the nominations; businesses are quite time-poor,” he said.
The new application process was changed to automatically qualify category winners to the regional business awards.
“With that being said, I think businesses probably haven’t allocated, or seen the potential benefit of the business awards and the profile that could give them.”
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Mr McPhee praised all the local businesses who did take the time to nominate and recognised the tough financial climate businesses were facing.
“I also think some of the questions were fairly self-analytical, and maybe not all businesses are able to do that,” he said.
Having already locked in their guest speaker, the Chamber will still host a night for businesses, ensuring the high-profile guest will be utilised.
Mr McPhee said a more “expanded” Christmas program and festival was in the mix for 2018, keeping the Chamber busy in preparation.
He said it would be up to the executive at the time to decide whether the awards would run in 2019.
“I also think having it every second year doesn’t help; it’s a catch-22.
I also think having it every second year doesn’t help; it’s a catch-22.
- Josh McPhee
“If you run it every year it waters down the excitement of the awards, but every second year you reduce the profile of the awards itself.”
Mr McPhee said the nomination struggle was also felt by towns and chambers around the region.
“It’s not just a unique issue for Inverell.”
The president also acknowledged the many amazing businesses in Inverell who should have taken the time to nominate.
“As a business owner, you can get caught up in the general running of things and don’t take the time to step back and say ‘hey we are surviving in a hard retail climate,’” he said.
“We’ve got some businesses who are really killing it and would have done well regionally; it’s a hard one.”
