The Local Pizzeria named Business of the Year

Over 130 people celebrated the announcement of the winners of the 2023 Snowy Hydro Business Snowy Valleys Awards on Friday night at the Tumut Golf Club.  The event was the culmination of months of preparation by the Business Snowy Valleys committee with all 11 category winners announced as well as the Business of the Year Award.

The Local Pizzeria was the winner of the Snowy Hydro sponsored Business of the Year Award after taking out two other award categories through the night – Employer of Choice (sponsored by Visy Industries) and Excellence in Large Business (sponsored by PHE Power and Infrastructure).  Owners Graeme and Carol Hoad were so pleased that their community had recognised their efforts,  having opened their business after moving to the area from Western Australia to be closer to family.

The individual award category winners were Brodie Palmer (Outstanding Employee – sponsored by Roddy Engineering), Christopher Barron (Outstanding Young Business Leader – sponsored by the Murray Family) and Diane Gorman (Outstanding Business Leader – sponsored by Truenorth Helicopters).  The winner of the Diversity and Inclusion award (sponsored by Valmar Support Services) saw Brodie Palmer, Emily Carroll and the team and at Rural Health being recognised for their work running their weekly exercise group.

Outstanding Community Organisation (sponsored by AKD Softwoods) was awarded to Batlow Tumut Rail Trail with Marjory Tomlinson gladly accepting the award on behalf of their hard-working committee.

Another lucky winner of more than one award for the night was Angus Reynolds of Haul Fly Fishing – taking out Outstanding Start-Up (Sponsored by Snowy Valleys Council) and Outstanding Visitor Experience (sponsored by PRD Tumut).  Angus has also moved to the area in recent years, noting that he believes our region offers the best fly-fishing experiences in the world.

Talea McGuffie of TMFIT PT was awarded Excellence in Micro Business (sponsored by the Bush Chemist) while Whisk and Dish was awarded Excellence in Small Business (sponsored by AKW Chartered Accountants).

Keynote speaker Grant Fenn shared his experiences growing up in the region and coming back from Sydney in his university breaks to work with Back and Masters (now Roddy Engineering) and A Murray and Sons.  The hard work and long hours that Grant worked in our region provided him with the grounding that he has taken through to his corporate career having worked many years at Qantas in senior executive roles and more recently as CEO of Downer EDI Limited for 13 years.  Grant recognised the difficulties faced by small business owners and recognised the importance, as a business owner, of learning and growing by stepping out of comfort zones and seeking new challenges.

Guests were entertained with music by Andrew Wortes through the evening and enjoyed a three-course meal provided by the Tumut Golf Club restaurant in combination with the Coffee Pedaler. 

President of Business Snowy Valleys, Natalie Randall, said ‘It was a fantastic evening of celebration across our entire business region with many lovely stories about the passion that drives our local business owners.’

‘With all of our award winners now going through to the Business NSW (Murray-Riverina) regional awards on 13 October, we are very much looking forward to following their ongoing successes.’

Business Snowy Valleys is grateful for the sponsorship from Snowy Hydro and the 11 category sponsors that allows the organisation to run the event every two years to highlight business and individual achievements across our region.

The upcoming regional business awards are being held in Albury Friday 13 October by Business NSW (Riverina- Murray) many of our local winners will be in attendance.

Photo credits: Robert Van Der Male of Van Der Photography