OUR business award winners not only take home plaudits on the night, but a lasting boost to their reputation, according to last year's winners.

"It raises your profile quite considerably," said Rona Brown, financial director of 2006 Family Business of the Year winner Frank Mercer and Sons Ltd, a plastics recylcing firm from Westhoughton.

"When people come to look for products within our region, they see our name and think Oh, I've heard of them'."

Fil Adams-Mercer, who runs Business of the Year winner Parcels2go.com, said: "Your business has to be of a high standard to win an award and people recognise that. We do a lot of reciprocal work with firms in this area and it helps us with that.

"Any business is driven by the quality of its staff and so it's great for them."

Imran Hakim, Young Entrepreneur of 2006, said the publicity generated by the award helped kick-start the process that helped him to convince judges on hit BBC show Dragons' Den to back his interactive "iTeddy".

He said: "My companies have done phenomenally since receiving this award. The recognition gives people confidence that you are doing something right.

"When I spoke to people at Dragons' Den, we were talking about it."

This year's awards dinner takes place at the Reebok Stadium on June 28 and will be hosted by BBC Radio Five Live broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire.

However, time is running out for firms to give themselves a chance of emulating last year's winners.

The deadline has been extended by one week to April 20 to allow companies more time to finalise their applications.

Entering is easy. Simply log on here for information and to see the 11 categories.