The Judges’ Award is about recognising the business or individual who may not have won an award on the night but has shown great potential and will likely be one to watch in future.

The award is not directly entered but is chosen by the Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business Awards judging panel as a way of recognising a stand out firm or individual who may not necessarily have won another award.

So how does our judging panel reach its decision?

In the run up to the awards ceremony which, this year, is taking place on November 1 at the Burgess Hall, in St Ives, our panel of judges come together for a day of short listing.

They carefully read through each nomination before scoring against the set criteria. Each nominee will have a score at the end of this process and this will determine the top five businesses in each category.

A minimum of four judges will assess each nomination.

Once the short listing is finalised we then contact each of the businesses to tell them they have reached the final stage of the judging process.

Our scoring matrix enables us to give feedback to businesses on which areas they scored lower in, giving valuable insight into what the judges thought of their business.

Our judges are paired up at the short-listing, two judges armed with a set of criteria will visit the business to assess them in the second phase of the judging, if the business does not have a shop front or office then a suitable location will be arranged convenient to both.

The second phase is really the finalist's opportunity to showcase their business, the visit should take no longer than an hour and can be used in different ways, for example some businesses like to present to the judges, others to keep the meeting more informal.

Once the visit judging has concluded, the judges attend a final judges meeting, here they present to the other judges the businesses that they have seen and explain in detail who their winner is and why.

This year, the Judges' Award is sponsored by Huntingdonshire Chamber of Commerce.

Huntingdonshire Chamber of Commerce, part of Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce, enables businesses to connect, transform, succeed and grow, through a wide range of benefits and opportunities that enable you to promote your company and generate new business.

For more information, visit www.cambridgeshirechamber.co.uk.