The winners of the prestigious Suffolk Business Awards 2021 have been revealed at an awards ceremony - with Vertas taking the top prize.

The facilities management firm, which employs 4,000 staff across Suffolk and the UK, was named Business of the Year, as well as Employer of the Year.

It was announced at a ceremony at Milsoms Kesgrave Hall on Thursday evening, attended by more than 250 guests - including finalists in the 10 award categories.

The awards are run by Archant, publishers of the EADT and Ipswich Star, and were introduced by Editor Brad Jones, who praised the Suffolk business community for its "vision, resilience and quality" in the face of supply chain, labour, and energy cost challenges.

"That should give us all confidence that after what we've been through in the last few years – we can now probably handle most things that are thrown at us.

"There will be more difficult times ahead, but Suffolk's economy can emerge from this strongly and with confidence, because of inspirational people like you," he added.

He also told how the newspaper's Fightback East campaign aimed to ensure the region was in the best position possible to recover from the impact of the pandemic - and ensure our politicians are fighting as hard as they possibly can for local investment.

The event, sponsored by Suffolk Chamber of Commerce and Sizewell C, also featured guest speaker Priya Lakhani OBE, the award-winning entrepreneur and founder CEO of CENTURY, an artificial intelligence education technology company.

Judges had high praise for the winners, and said throughout the pandemic, Vertas had shown "exceptional out-the-box thinking, listening to the community and responding with lightning speed".

Its transport services arm, for example, was turned on its head – instead of taking children to and from school, learning packs were delivered to children working at home to motivate and keep them on track.

For full coverage of the awards, see out special pullout in the EADT on a Wednesday, November 24.

Suffolk Business Awards 2021: Winners in full

  • Business Person of the Year: Peter Wilson
  • Changing Lives Special Recognition: Combat2Coffee
  • Customer Excellence: Pocket Receptionist
  • Disruptor of the Year: N2S
  • Education in Business: Stow Healthcare Group
  • Employer of the Year: Vertas Group
  • Scale up Business of the Year: Caribbean Blinds UK
  • SME of the Year: Seven Resourcing
  • Start Up Business of the Year: GLO - Generate Leads Online
  • Business of the Year: Vertas Group