The Northern Outback Business Awards will become a smaller event this year, due to the effects of COVID-19.
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The 2020 Northern Outback Business Awards will see a maximum of 120 guests at this year's award ceremony at Mount Isa's Buchanan Park on November 7.
Emma Harman from North West Commerce said due to planning the event in June and July this year, numbers were heavily restricted.
"Unfortunately there will be no tickets available for the general public and finalist tickets will be restricted," Ms Harman said.
"Once we allocated spots for the finalists, sponsors and delegates there is no tickets left. Even though restrictions have since changes, we were planning the event back in June and July when restrictions were still intense and it's just to close to the event to change it.
Judging for the event closes on October 16 with finalists chosen by the end of this week.
Ms Harman said the finalists would be notified in advance but the winner would not be announced until the award ceremony.
"This year we have changed things a little bit due to COVID-19 and restricted ticketing. Usually if you've nominated you're encouraged to get tickets in case you win. However this year we will only notify the winner and runner up that they are a finalist so they can purchase two tickets per finalist.
"They wont know if they are the winner or not until the night. It will be a much smaller event, but at least we are doing it."
READ MORE: 2019 Northern Outback Business Awards.
Ms Harman said nominations had been received across all categories.
"Despite COVID-19 having a huge impact on businesses this year, all businesses were encouraged to apply and we have received a good intake of nominations," she said.
"COVID-19 was recognised in the application questions and we had encouraging businesses to apply even if they had been effected during COVID-19.
"We still wanted to showcase businesses who were resilient and had to pivot and adapt to the changes."
Ms Harman said there were a handful of first time award entrants this year.
"These came from Mount Isa but also out of town," she said.
"This is exciting to see and it just goes to show that this is the Northern Outback Business Awards and not just for Mount Isa businesses."
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Samantha Campbell
Samantha Campbell (nee Walton) has worked for regional and rural publications across New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. She is currently writing for the North Queensland Register based in North West Queensland. Email: samantha.campbell@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Samantha Campbell (nee Walton) has worked for regional and rural publications across New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. She is currently writing for the North Queensland Register based in North West Queensland. Email: samantha.campbell@austcommunitymedia.com.au
