THE great and the good of Northern Ireland's business community come together tomorrow night for a record-breaking Irish News Workplace & Employment Awards gala dinner in Titanic Belfast.
More than 550 people will dine on a starter built from warm Ryefield goats cheese, a main of Irish beef fillet and black pudding croquette, and a masterpiece meringue dessert where the WEA primary colours will dominate the plate.
And the after-dinner entertainment will come from none other than Co Down-born comedian and television star Patrick Kielty, who will join regular compere Karen Patterson from the BBC in co-hosting the awards.
Twenty winners will be unveiled alongside a number of commendations, and this year's prize list includes a raft of new names to the competition and reflects a mix of blue chip companies, innovative small firms, public sector organisations and education bodies.
And along the way there will also be more than a few surprises and innovations to the north's corporate dinner scene.
Irish News marketing manager John Brolly said: "The 2015 Workplace & Employment Awards at Titanic Belfast will break all records - it will signal the largest number of entries we have received to date as well as the highest number of new entrants and it will also be the biggest crowd ever to attend our awards.
"It will honestly be wonderful to be in the same room as 550 people who take a positive view of the importance of people in their workforce.
"We all realise that it is people that give us the edge, and it is refreshing to see the genuine commitment on the part of all finalists in the Irish News Workplace & Employment Awards celebrate what is our most important asset - the talent of people to allow them to meet their objectives."
Pre-dinner speaker is Fintan Drury, chief executive of sports management business Platinum One.
He started his professional career in the 1970s as as a journalist with RTE before establishing his own corporate PR business Drury Communications, which he sold in 2000 to concentrate on Platinum One and other interests.
His agency brought golf's European Open to Ireland in 1995 and managed it at the K Club for 13 years. It also staged two World Golf Championships at Mount Juliet in 2002 & 2004, had an eight year management contract for Ryder Cup 2006, made the unsuccessful bid for Lough Erne to stage the 2009 Solheim Cup and then created the Lough Erne Challenge in 2009 and 2010 which featured Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington.
In football the company has managed the pre-season of among others Barcelona, Real Madrid and Sevilla and it staged Cristiano Ronaldo's Madrid debut.
His roll call of clients over the years includes household names like Shane Horgan, Johnny Sexton, Gordon D’Arcy and Sean O’Brien in rugby, and Liam Brady, Packie Bonner, Kevin Moran, Steve Staunton and current Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill in football.
Then later it'll be the turn of funnyman Kielty to bring an irreverent twist to proceedings.
He began his stand up career as the fearless host of Belfast’s Empire Comedy Club in pre ceasefire Northern Ireland and later he became a national star through his C4 show Last Chance Lottery before going on to host his own chat show Patrick Kielty Almost Live and Comic Relief Does Fame Academy for BBC1.
More recently he topped the bill for a second time on Live at The Apollo, hosted C4 series Stand Up for the Week and fronted the BBC’s New Comedy Award on Radio 2 where he is a regular host. He also helps host the One Show on BBC with Alex Jones.
Kielty will make his long awaited debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year before taking the show on tour in the autumn.
:: For full awards details visit www.irishnews.com/wea
