Member Article

North East Employee of the Year Awards 2019 champion region’s workforce

The achievements of the North East’s best employees have been royally celebrated at a glittering awards ceremony in Newcastle.

The fourth annual North East Employee of the Year Awards once again rewarded and recognised the hard work, talent and achievements of people working across a wide range of businesses from across the region.

Nominations were received from managers, directors and board, trumpeting the incredible talent of employees in the North East.

Awards were given out across nine categories including Best Apprentice, Unsung Hero, Team of the Year, the Leadership Award and – new for 2019 – the Workplace Wellbeing Award, sponsored by Myndr.

The big winner on the night was Anthony Hunter, General Manager of Ellingham Hall who was given the Outstanding Service Award as well as being named as the overall North East Employee of the Year.

Anthony said: “I was thrilled to be nominated in the “Outstanding Service” category at this year’s awards, and even more pleased to win it! That in itself was completely unexpected, however I was bowled over to win the overall North East Employee of the Year award in what was such a strong field of candidates.

“I’m incredibly grateful to my team for submitting the nomination, as it’s their hard work and dedication that makes our workplace and my role at Ellingham Hall so special. I also feel very fortunate to have won such a prestigious North East award, and the feedback from the judges on the night and peers since has been entirely humbling.”

Other winners at the celebratory evening, which was supported by headline sponsor Tesco Underwriting and hosted by BBC Radio Newcastle presenter Anna Foster, included Olivia Prest from Hays Travel who was named Best Apprentice; the team at Marmax Products, who were given the Making A Difference award; and Bill Brown from Quoram Business Park, who was named as Unsung Hero of the Year.

Sie Francis, Managing Director of The Event Hero Ltd, which organised the event, said: “We were honoured and absolutely delighted to be involved in this important event, which shines the spotlight on the people underpinning the success of North East businesses.

“Recognising the massive and invaluable contribution employees make to a business is a key element to the overall wellbeing of a workforce and we feel privileged to be playing our part in celebrating their achievements.

“We want to thank every single person who helped make the North East Employee of the Year Awards 2019 the best one yet… and are already looking forward to next year’s event!”

As well as rewarding the winners, the evening also featured a charity raffle with prizes donated by Tesco Underwriting, The Crowne Plaza and Marmax Products. Almost £600 was raised for Kidney Research UK.

The full list of winners for The North East Employee of the Year Awards 2019, sponsored by Tesco Underwriting:

BEST APPRENTICE sponsored by Hays Travel Olivia Prest

LEADERSHIP AWARD, sponsored by Mosaic Partners Lyndsey Stephenson at Sage UK

MAKING A DIFFERENCE AWARD, sponsored by Sharpe Recruitment Marmax Products

OUTSTANDING SERVICE AWARD Anthony Hunter, General Manager at Ellingham Hall.

TEAM OF THE YEAR Operational Excellence Team at Tesco Underwriting.

UNSUNG HERO Bill Brown from Quorum Business Park

WORKPLACE WELLBEING AWARD, sponsored by Myndr Cathy McSorley from Zerolight

YOUNG EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR Callum Downs from Sage UK

THE NORTH EAST EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR Anthony Hunter, Ellingham Hall

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sam Wonfor .