More than 60 of the city’s top businesses have made the short list in 14 categories for this year's Belfast Business Awards, which will be handed out at a glitzy ceremony in the City Hall on Wednesday May 27.
The finalists in the competition - organised by Belfast Chamber of Trade & Commerce and with Bank of Ireland UK as headline sponsor - span retail, hospitality, digital marketing and sustainability sectors, and each will be interviewed by a panel of judges to decide the overall winners.
Details of the finalists (for more further information go to www.belfastchamber.com) are:
:: Customer service excellence (multiple retailer) - Boots; Lidl NI; Next; Oasis Travel; Rituals Cosmetics.
:: Customer service excellence (independent retailer) - Belfast Cosmetic Laser Clinic; Dawsons Music; PM Lighting; Porcellana Tile Studio; Scooter Specialist NI.
:: Best new business - Crumlin Road Gaol; Dress This House; Miniversity Creative Learning Club; Rumour Mill PR;The Dirty Onion.
:: Best marketing initiative - Abacus Recruitment; Traction Finance; Dawsons Music; Grand Opera House; Value Cabs.
:: Best digital marketing - Allstate Northern Ireland; CastleCourt; Slims Healthy Kitchen; The Hudson Bar ; The Mac.
:: Young (under-30) businessperson - Tony Webster (Big Bad Llama); Emer O’Kane (Core Systems); Steven Davidson (Alibi Belfast); Katie Stevenson & Sarah Graham (La Bella Vita); Alice Sykes (Utopia).
:: Best company to work for - Adventures Day Nursery; Allstate NI; Cleaver Fulton Rankin; Connect Telecom; Replify.
:: Customer service excellence in professional business services - ASM Chartered Accountants; Baker Tilly Mooney Moore; Dunmurry Dental Practice; Francis Hanna & Co; MKB Law.
:: Best licensed premises - The Albany; Hudson Bar; Horatio Todd’s; The Dirty Onion; The John Hewitt; Rita’s.
:: Best hotel - Ibis City Centre; La Mon Hotel & Country Club; Ramada Plaza; Tara Lodge; The Merchant.
:: Best eatery/coffee shop - Bar & Grill at James St South; Hadskis; Havana Bank Sq; Slims Healthy Kitchen; Yardbird.
:: Business person of the year - Patricia O’Hagan (Core Systems); Dorcas Crawford (Edwards & Co Solicitors); John Bushell (Finaghy Business Association); Kathy Hanna (Oasis Travel); Chris Suitor (Suitor Menswear).
:: Best green business - CastleCourt; IKEA; Little Wing Pizzeria; The Hudson Bar; Victoria Square.
:: Business growth award - BioKinetic Europe; DisplayNote Technologies; Porcellana Tile Studio; Ross Boyd Ltd; World Travel Centre.