Brabners Lancashire has thrown its weight behind the county’s longest running business awards ceremony by sponsoring a key award.

Brabners Lancashire will sponsor the Family Business of the Year category at the 2023 BIBAs, which is run by the North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce.

Tom Smith, a partner at Brabners Lancashire, will chair the Family Business of the Year category judging panel, with the winner to be revealed at the prestigious BIBAs awards ceremony at Blackpool Tower on September 15, 2023.

The BIBAs is one of the North West’s most prestigious and largest business awards programmes. Hundreds of Lancashire businesses enter the BIBAs each year with over 1,000 business influencers attending its September finale in Blackpool.

Tom said: “We are really looking forward to this partnership and getting to know some of the finest family businesses in the county. At Brabners, we support hundreds of family businesses in Lancashire, many of which are household names, and very much understand what makes them so special.

“Family businesses are such an important facet of the Lancashire business community, a real driver of the local economy, it’s important we shine a light on them.”

The BIBAs judging format has been benchmarked through Lancaster University against America’s top business awards, The Stevie’s, the European Business Awards and the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise here in the UK. The BIBAs has a charity foundation that has donated over £100,000 to community groups across Lancashire.

Babs Murphy, CEO of the North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, said: “We’re delighted that Brabners Lancashire is working with the BIBAs in 2023. The Brabners team works with some of the biggest business names across the region so they’ll bring some real insight to the judging panel.”

Tom added: “Businesses that enter the BIBAs get a thorough interrogation of their business. It’s a real test but one that can open the minds of business leaders and really enhance their skills and organisation.”

The deadline for applications is March 31 2023. Application details can be found here.

The Brabners Lancashire office is based on the outskirts of Preston, at Sceptre Court Business Park. Brabners Lancashire relocated from Winckley Square, Preston, to its new Grade A office in 2021. The inspirational office was delivered by Manchester workplace design specialist, TSK Group, which has also designed workplaces for clients such as Metro Bank, Allianz and Ticketmaster.

Brabners is a leading independent law firm and home to nationally recognised experts in a number of practice areas. It has more than 440 colleagues working across its Liverpool, Manchester, Lancashire and Leeds offices. The firm has been in business since 1815 and has an independent grant making charity the Brabners Foundation.