THEY are queuing up to enter our Evening Press Business Awards 2000.

Firms throughout North and East Yorkshire, large, medium and small, from Plcs to start-ups have been latching on to our most glamorous benchmark of business excellence in the 10 years since it started.

And this time entrants have a lot more categories to choose from - Small Business of the Year, Growth Business of the Year, Business Personality of the Year, Best Environmental company, Progress through People award, Innovative Use of New Technology, Exporter of the Year and New Business of the Year.

Below Ron Godfrey and Dan Rutstein profile just some of them - whose message of success will be posted up on our dedicated competition website at www.epbusinessawards2000.co.uk for Britain and all the world to see throughout the competition.

That climaxes in a glittering black-tie awards ceremony at the Merchant Adventurers Hall on November 30 which will feature a fanfare of videos on the finalists. Also present will be our sponsors, Barclays Bank, Yorkshire Water, North Yorkshire TEC, Compris, Torch Telecom, DE Ford, Garbutt & Elliott and York and North Yorkshire Export Forum.

How do you enter? Easy peasy. Beam into the website for clues about what judges in each category will be seeking. Now electronically type up your submission ready for cutting and pasting into our inter-active entry form on the website and send...

Alternatively for entry forms and details of requirements for each category contact: Ron Godfrey, Evening Press Business Awards 2000, PO Box 29, 76/86 Walmgate, York YO1 9YN, telephone 01904 567130.