The Tauranga Chamber of Commerce and Hilary Cutfield, chair of LinkT Young People in Business, are delighted to announce the winners of this year's Young Read Woudberg LinkT Awards and Ball 2017.

This year saw a record number of entrants, with over 17 across all five categories.

The judges were impressed with the standard of each business and say they found judging the winner in each category challenging.

Other elements that impressed the judges was the commitment that each of the entrants showed to the Bay, their approach to growing their business and the opportunity here in the Bay was quite refreshing.

They all had an approach to a great workplace environment where you worked hard, and in some cases – surfed hard. They appreciated that doing great global business was important and they sought it out, but they could do that here from the Bay with everything that it offered.

This year's winner of the Young Read Woudberg Business Owner award is Adam Taylor of Adam Taylor Architecture. This is a young business owner with a great future, already Adam's designs are becoming a feature in the local landscape, and he is now working across the country.

The judges were impressed with Adam's approach to excellence in sustainable and innovative practices and his philosophy around the work life balance.

This year's winner of the Holland Becket Law Young Employee of the Year is Jamie-Lee Doherty of C2 Design. Jamie-Lee was nominated by her employer Rachel Cleverly of C2 Design, where she says Jamie-Lee has helped build the business, she has an amazing attitude and always willing to help.

This year's winner of the Archistudio Social and Environmental Award is Krista Davis and Live For More Trust. Live for More was formed out of a passion to see great results for those people that are at the hard end of the spectrum. Krista Davis the founder of the trust saw a need and developed a programme around Surf Therapy and one on one clinical therapy.

The trust works with 40 young men a year and gives them a life option. This is not just about surfing but doing the hard yards. Krista has a background in psychology and a post grad in mental health and addiction. The judges were impressed with the trust, its outcomes and ethics and Krista as the driving force.

The Mediaworks Employer of the Year is Lysaghts Consultants. Lysaght Consultants are a progressive, forward thinking practice specialising in surveying, engineering, land development, and multisport.

They have a culture of healthy minds and bodies, they all compete in multi sports and have a flexible work place so that all employees can train and compete. Their work ethic is to support their employees. As a modern practice, they utilise a range of motivational techniques to ensure they are on top of their game.

The winner of the Priority One Young Innovator of the Year award is Rueben and Melissa Wood of Woods Agency. Rueben and Melissa have been in business for 11 years, as long as they have been parents.

They have taken the approach that it is the Bay First, and they wanted to build a culture here in the Bay. Rueben is particularly recognised for the work and contribution he has made to make the Young Innovator Awards what they are today. He has worked closely with Lyn and Jill at Instep to create this amazing vehicle for young innovators.

'As proud supporters of the Young Read Woudberg Rocket Awards and Ball 2017, we are delighted to help with a programme that inspires young professionals to strive for and celebrate success,” says Young Read Woudberg partner Eric Woudberg.

'Congratulations to the Awards winners – we're sure this is a stepping stone to even greater business success.”

'The Chamber is proud to support LinkT and the Awards as an opportunity for young professionals, business owners, employees and employers across the Bay to excel and certainly to grow their innovation,” says LinkT coordinator Anne Pankhurst.

'We congratulate the winners and finalists in these awards and look forward to seeing them grow into successful people.”