Our congratulations and many thanks to all who participated in this year’s Dungog District Chamber of Commerce Business Awards. This year’s programme was an outstanding success with another record year of nominations. It is encouraging to see yet another strong year of nominations, proving local business is thriving in the community.
Once again this year, our nominations reflected a growth in new businesses which is exciting and shows a growth in the diversity of the local business community in response to changing demographics. We continue to see exceptional growth in the new business category, in particular over the last few years which reflects what’s happening in the Dungog Shire.
There’s such a diverse range of businesses nominated overall, it’s testament to our tightly knit community spirit and strong support for local business. There also appears to be an ongoing trend of decentralized business, work from home etc. etc. Some real opportunities for small communities like the Dungog Shire to prosper, provided the right infrastructure and services are available.
The awards programme culminated with our awards presentation at the Clarence Town School of Arts Hall when over 150 gathered together to celebrate the achievements of our business community , community organisations and individuals from throughout the Dungog Shire. These awards are a wonderful opportunity to celebrate excellence in the local business and volunteer community and showcase their success.
This year it was our great honour to announce that our Community Sector Award will now be named the Colleen Duffy Community Service Award. This award will now be a tribute to our wonderful, inspiring friend and colleague Colleen Duffy who sadly passed away earlier this year. Colleen’s contribution to the community and work as a volunteer will never be forgotten. This year the award went to Clarence Town Community First Responders. This year we were also pleased to announce Ros Runciman as our 2019 inductee to the Hall of Fame. For a full list of winners and runners up please head to our website www.ddcc.org.au
Finally, these annual awards raise awareness of the contribution local businesses bring to the community and reward those who have provided great service throughout the year. Without our generous sponsors and members they would not be possible. If you would like to find out more about the awards click here.
