ONE of the greatest pleasures for The Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business Awards judges is to select the individual employee who has made the greatest contribution to his or her employer s success in the last year. Three employees are short-listed for the

ONE of the greatest pleasures for The Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business Awards judges is to select the individual employee who has made the greatest contribution to his or her employer's success in the last year.

Three employees are short-listed for the 2007 Employee of the Year Award, which is sponsored by Cambridge-based printers Piggott Black Bear - Julie White, of Buckden Village Hall Trust, Patrick Gay, of Cellbond Composites Limited in Blackstone Road, Huntingdon, whose boss Mike Ashmead was last year's Business Person of the Year, and Brendan Meeter from the Huntingdon Marriott Hotel, the 2006 Employer of the year.

Julie's manager Mike Freeman said his nominee was responsible for the day-to-day management of the village hall.

"The trust has grown in stature and success in the past few years and one of the main reasons for this is Julie's contribution. She consistently performs above the expectations of the trust management," Mike said. "Her drive and determination to achieve success for the centre, and the community, are unsurpassed. She has turned the centre into a flagship amenity for the Huntingdonshire area.

"Julie consistently brings new business and clients to the centre and, although this increases her workload, she relishes the challenge and is still able to maintain high standards of customer service."

He also paid tribute to "her tireless work, unselfish approach and recognition of other people's contribution to the success of the business".

Patrick Gay is one of more than 100 employees of Cellbond, which manufactures aluminium honeycomb core products, such as crash test barriers and architectural panels.

Gemma Sonfield told The Hunts Post: "Patrick shows total commitment. He does not stop until the job is finished. He is capable of taking a step back and considering the whole picture. He is also capable of working at all levels across the company and has a unique combination of knowledge, technical ability and commitment.

"He won't leave a job unfinished and will always look for a cost-effective solution to any problem that arises. He always has the company's best interests at heart when offering a solution. This attitude sometimes means that a job will be done at Patrick's personal expense.

"Other staff respect and value his opinion and input. He will also listen to other ideas and provide constructive, usable feedback. Patrick has been in several different positions in the company, most of which have meant managing a team of staff, and his team always speak very highly of him," she added.

Brendan Meteer has been at the Huntingdon Marriott Hotel from when it opened as a Swallow Hotel in 1998, starting as a commis chef and progressing to senior sous chef in 2003. He then took a career change to go into food & beverage purchase controller reporting into finance in 2006 to present.

"Throughout the time here at the hotel Brendan has showed complete loyalty and commitment," said director of operations Peter Botterill.

"Brendan is always proactive in terms of ensuring that all areas of the business are covered. From his experience at the hotel he is able to foresee issues that may arise due to business levels or diversity of business mix. He will always proactively ensure that all areas are covered even if it means that he has to cover the shortfall personally.

"He delivers a consistent can-do attitude to all areas of the business by always looking for the next opportunity to deliver and grow the business. He is a true ambassador for the company in and out of work.

"Brendan is always there for his colleagues and it is very easy to take him for granted."

The judges will be looking for the contribution each of the three has made to the company's success, relationships with customers and colleagues, professionalism and personal reliability as an employee.