Have you heard the latest? You must have seen it on one of those interwebby bloggy things. You know the one, MyFace or was it SpaceBook? Someone saw Simon Cowell and Tommy Leighton in the same street so that’s official, the Re;fresh awards are going global. This year Park lane, London – next stop global domination! It’s online so it must be true.

Well maybe that’s stretching things a bit too far. We might love the Fresh Produce sector but, although I’m sure Tommy’s working on it, perhaps it’s not quite reached prime time TV status just yet. However, the Re;fresh awards do represent a great opportunity for everyone to recognise the achievements of those who work within it.

We’ve been associated with the awards now for 5 years and specifically the award for Young Person of the Year. A perennial theme amongst our clients over this time has been the question of succession planning and where will they find the young managers and leaders that they’ll need to prosper in the future. That’s likely to remain a key question for some time but if we are not careful it’s easy to overlook that we’ve already got some great young people working in the industry and the Re;fresh Award provides a great opportunity to recognise that young talent.

Over the years the award has been carried off by young people representing all sectors of the industry. In 2006 Michael Barton of Barton & Redman carried  of the title for the wholesale boys, in 2007 Pavel Skapetowski of Stubbins represented the changing face of the sector – and who could forget that acceptance speech! In 2008 Tom Richardson of Waitrose helped illustrate that not all supermarket buyers are as bad as some people would like to make out and last year Lucy Wiggins (pictured, left) of Herb Fresh carried off the title and at the same time became our first lady winner!

So as you can see a wide range people from business of all sizes but all with the same thing in common – talent, enthusiasm and a real passion for produce and the industry they work in. They’ve also had employers that recognise the motivational value that the odd pat on the back or even better entry for an industry award that recognises excellence can have!

So if you have some talented individuals whose contribution to your business you think merits wider recognition this could be a great opportunity to do just that as there is still time to enter this years Re;fresh Awards. Entry closes on 13th April and you can download all the details you need from http://www.refresh.eu/index.php?zr=awardcat9

Go on, do it and maybe you’ll be joining MorePeople, Tommy and who knows, if the rumours are true, even Simon C at this years awards at the InterContinental Hotel, Park Lane on 13th May 2010.