Telegraph & Argus editor Perry Austin-Clarke on why the 2013 Bradford Means Business Awards are more important than ever his is the third year of our Bradford Means Business Awards.

We launched them in 2011, when the country was struggling through the worst economic downturn for years and the outlook was not much better than gloomy for many.

It might be said that things have not really improved. But despite all this, business in all its forms continues to not only survive in Bradford, but in many cases to thrive.

This is why we began our Bradford Means Business Awards – to give much-deserved recognition to those businesses, large and small, and those entrepreneurs, new or established, who had not only survived some of the worst trading conditions for decades, but forged ahead.

When we started these awards, we knew there were a lot of strong companies and ambitious business people in the Bradford district, who we had covered in our business pages.

But over the past two years, the numbers and strength of entries in the Bradford Means Business Awards have delighted and surprised us. While we are all aware of the big hitters in Bradford’s business landscape, it was also incredibly gratifying to hear from firms who perhaps operate just under the radar of most lay-people’s knowledge.

We have made slight changes to our categories this year, expanding our Small or Medium Enterprise of the Year award and adding two important new awards.

The Manufacturer of the Year aims to recognise the outstanding companies which operate in a sector which has always been, and remains, the backbone of the Bradford district’s economy.

And in these tough times for job hunters, we thought it important to honour those businesses or individuals who play an outstanding role in boosting employment in the Bradford district through our new Job Creator of the Year category.

The awards could not happen, of course, without the support and generosity of our sponsors, and we are indebted to all of them.

We run the awards each year in partnership with Bradford Council which, alongside the T&A, recognises the massive contribution that business makes to our community. We couldn’t do it without their help or without the magnificent support of the city’s leading business organisation, Bradford Chamber.