OUR search for the best businesses in Fenland begins once again as we launch the 2013 Fenland Enterprise Business Awards.

We are looking to build further on the massive success of the event which has been running since 2009.

This year we have 13 awards up for grabs, 10 of which are open for entries. Some of the most keenly contested awards from previous years return, including Business Person of the Year, Small Business of the Year, Medium Business of the Year and New Business of the Year.

The Apprentice Award – set up in memory of teenager Craig Bird who was killed in a car crash in 2010 - also returns. Craig, 18, of March, was an apprentice at the Fenland Engineering Skills Centre, at Metalcraft in Chatteris.

One new category this year is the Rural Enterprise Award, to recognise those who work in the farming and agriculture industries.

And YOU will decide which town is the Pride of Fenland for 2013 and has demonstrated the greatest entrepreneurial spirit during the last 12 months.

A ‘winner of winners’ will be chosen from the 11 category winners for the grand title of Business of the Year.

The award was won in 2009 by Fenland Leisure Products of Christchurch, in 2010 by Chatteris-based independent retailer James Graven & Sons and 2011 by Delamore Young Plants of Wisbech St Mary.

Last year, this prestigious award was won by Wisbech-based Foster Property Maintenance - could it be your company in 2013?

A Judges Award will also be presented to a business or individual who didn’t win a category but the judges feel deserves recognition.

The awards are run in association with Fenland District Council, a supporter of the awards since they were launched. The council also sponsors the Apprentice of the Year Award.

Category sponsors for 2013 include Local Generation and Whiting & Partners, both of which have also supported the awards since 2009, Larkfleet Homes, Foster Property Maintenance, Foster Renewable Energies and Leeds Day Solicitors.

Entry forms are available now on the awards website, www.fenlandbusinessawards.co.uk - and the closing date is July 5.