VIDEOS AND PICTURES: Business stars receive accolades as winners of T&A's Bradford Means Business Awards are revealed at ceremony

Big hitters in the Bradford business world were out in force for the fifth annual event, held at the Aagrah Midpoint Suite in Thornbury on Saturday night.

A packed room saw Bingley-based Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) crowned the big winner on the night, as the firm scooped Best Small or Medium Enterprise and the overall Winner of Winners accolade. STRI provides services for the research, design, construction and management of sports pitches and surfaces.

After being handed the main award towards the end of the evening, STRI's chief executive Gordon McKillop said: "What more can I say? I am very, very surprised, delighted, overwhelmed and over the moon.

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"You always have high hopes for your own category, but when you see the range and quality of all the other businesses, I almost didn't listen to this one!"

On winning the other award, Mr McKillop, 62, said: "I feel overwhelmed. We are very proud and absolutely delighted to have won."

Bingley-based Feature Radiators took home the Business or Technical Innovation of the Year award, to the delight of 34-year-old Helena Gerwitz, the firm's head of marketing and business development, who said: "We are really chuffed and genuinely quite surprised.

"I am really pleased and it just shows that listening to customers pays off."

Paul Corcoran, 56, of Pennine Cycles in Thornton Road, Bradford, thanked his wife after riding off with the Retail, Hospitality or Leisure Business of the Year award.

On winning, he said: "It is absolutely fantastic, I just cannot believe it. I must thank my wife Sandra and all the people who have supported me throughout the years, especially my customers."

SEE OUR GALLERY OF PICTURES FROM THE BRADFORD MEANS BUSINESS AWARDS CEREMONY

Twenty-year-old plasterer Keeley McIntyre, of Shipley, won the night's next award, Apprentice of the Year. Keeley, who works for Bradford social housing group Incommunities, said: "I feel great, shocked. I was not expecting it."

She added that she knew nothing about plastering when she started about three years ago, but that the trade "caught my attention" and she thought she would "give it a go".

Winner of New Business of the Year was Bradford Brewery, which opened in February this year. Managing director Matthew Halliday, 29, said: "It is incredible. Thank you to Bradford."

Angela Fan won the Woman in Business award. She runs Bradford-based Study Links, a guardianship organisation which acts for international children studying in the UK.

"I am a bit overcome," she said, after receiving the award. "I am very pleased and proud of everyone who has helped me along the way."

Eclipse Legal Systems was named Job Creator of the Year. Marketing director Darren Gower, 39, said: "Wow, I am delighted, obviously. We pride ourselves on providing jobs for local people.

"We are extremely proud - it is nice to be recognised."

Employer of the Year was won by family engineering firm Airedale Springs. Employee Brian Cooper picked up the award, and said: "I am absolutely gobsmacked, I am very proud."

He added: "It is absolutely brilliant to work for them."

Mark Bowers, of Bradford-based Redfern Travel, was named Business Personality of the Year, but was unable to pick up the award because he was on holiday.

Manufacturer of the Year was Spooner Industries. Manufacturing director Robert Proctor, 52, said: "It is a pleasure to accept any award for something where you are just doing your job."

T&A editor Perry Austin-Clarke said: "When you're launching an event like this you can never quite predict how it is going to go, how people will respond and how successful it is going to be."

He added: "It has gone from strength-to-strength and the level and the quality of the entrants this year have been the best yet."

Mr Austin-Clarke described the belief shared by the partnership behind the awards - the T&A, Bradford Council and the Bradford Chamber.

"It (the awards) has emerged from a shared passion to help businesses to succeed and prosper in Bradford and across the district by identifying, showcasing and rewarding some of the magnificent and inspiring efforts that are going on here every day in the true spirit of enterprise and entrepreneurship."

He continued: "I believe, and I think there are many that share my view, that Bradford is on the cusp of something bigger and better. We are turning the corner. There is a tangible feeling of optimism in the air and a belief that Bradford has the capacity and skills to retake its place as a northern powerhouse in its own right."

Westfield's chief operating officer Peter Miller gave a key note speech at the event. In it he said: "Bradford, for me and my team, is a real story of relentless perseverance and determination against the odds."

Bradford Council leader, Councillor David Green, said: "There is a real feeling of optimism and a real buzz about not just Bradford city centre, but across the district."