Celebrations as the best in business are recognised at the Peterborough Telegraph Business Awards 2017

The winners of the Peterborough Telegraph Business Awards 2017.

A record 300 plus business leaders and their guests attended a glittering ceremony at the East of England Arena and Events Centre for the presentation of awards for outstanding achievement in 11 categories of business endeavour.

The winners were:

Social Enterprise of the Year: Little Miracles.

Lifetime achievement award for Michael Vincent, centre, with PT editor Mark Edwards, left and Chris Collier, chairman of the PT awards judges.

Staff Engagement: Vivacity.

Environmental achievement: Hunt & Coombs.

Young Entrepreneur of the Year: Raj Regmi of Lakeside Kitchen and Bar.

Corporate social responsibility: Princebuild.

Guest speaker Jo Fairley, co-founder of Green & Black.

Customer service: KFE.

Lifetime achievement: Michael Vincent of ChromaSport

Exporter of the Year: Omega Foundry Machinery.

Business Person of the Year: David Yiend,chief executive of AB Agri of Peterborough.

Smaller Business of the Year: Zazzle Media.

Larger Business of the Year: Princebuild.

The awards were hosted by local radio presenter Melvyn Prior with an enthralling after-dinner speech given by Jo Fairley, the co-founder of Green & Black’s Chocolates who outlined how the company had begun its life before going on to become a Â£100 million business brand.

Afterwards, Mark Edwards, edtior of the Peterborough Telegraph, said the ceremony had been one of the best ever.

He told guests: "The standard and quality of the entries has been especially high this year."

* See Thursday's Peterborough Telegraph for more photographs and words.