Ten organisations have been named as winners in the North of England Business Excellence Awards 2008.

In the private sector, recruitment specialist Kinetic plc, which is based in Stretford, Manchester, and key recovery and replacement specialist Keycare of Shipley were joint winners in the category for companies with under 250 employees. Manchester-based Siemens Automation & Drives won the award for companies employing 250 or more.

In the public sector, Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust Greenspaces Service took the award for organisations with fewer than 250 employees while Greater Merseyside Connexions Partnership Ltd and South Ribble Borough Council were joint winners amongst organisations with 250 or more.

Wakefield and District Housing, based in Castleford, scored a double victory by winning the charity and not-for-profit sector award and also the title of business of the year.

Special awards went to Kinetic, for customer results, the Valley Community Primary School in Bolton for leadership, and cabling specialist Brand Rex of Leigh for social responsibility. Meanwhile the Salford depot of 3663 First for Foodservice won the special award for people for the second year in a row.

The winners were announced at the annual awards ceremony at the Queens Hotel, Leeds where speakers included Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association and Miles Templeman, director general of the Institute of Directors.

It is the first time the awards ceremony has been held in Yorkshire since the awards, which were established in the North West in 1994, were extended to cover the whole of the North three years ago.

All entrants had their practices and their performance thoroughly assessed by a team of trained, independent assessors. Awards were only given in those categories in which entrants were judged to have achieved sufficiently high standards.

David Teale, chief executive of award organisers North of England Excellence, said: "The winners show that any organisation, regardless of size or sector, can improve its performance and its results by following well-established business principles. We hope to inspire others in the region to aim for world-class standards."

For the list of winners see the 2008 Roll of Honour.

The British Library has appointed North of England Excellence to help it with its continuous improvement activities at its sites in London and West Yorkshire.

North of England Excellence is running training courses for British Library staff focusing on facilitation and process improvement tools and techniques. The British Library is the national library of the UK and one of the world's greatest libraries, whose treasures include the Magna Carta, Leonardo da Vinci's notebook and the Times first edition.

The library operates from sites at St Pancras in London and Boston Spa, Wetherby which between them house a collection of 150 million items ranging from newspapers and magazines to manuscripts, maps, music scores and patents. Over 16,000 people each day use the service.

North of England Excellence consultant Dave Rusk said: "The British Library has a guardianship role in preserving our literary heritage and learning, and it has many expert and knowledgeable staff. However at the same time, with many thousands of requests each year, it also operates a high-volume operation, processing orders and handling information.

"Our training course is designed to give staff the tools they need to analyse the processes involved and to identify and implement improvements. The library's investment in training demonstrates its commitment to quality and to continually improving its service."

Dave believes the course is unique in delivering facilitation expertise, knowledge of process improvement tools and techniques and an improvement agenda for the work areas involved. It also allows staff to receive training using the library's actual processes rather than hypothetical or generic examples.

Andy Appleyard, head of document delivery and customer services at the British Library, said: "Our goal is to provide a service that delights our customers. By adopting this approach our staff can redesign their processes to eliminate waste and ensure their efforts actually add value in the eyes of the customer. What better way than to supplement their job knowledge with problem solving skills in order to allow the formation of teams to bring about continuous change."

The environmental regeneration body, Groundwork, has become only the fifth ever charity to have its quality standards endorsed by the Charity Commission.

The move is a vote of confidence in Groundwork's quality and performance systems, which were developed with help from North of England Excellence.

Groundwork delivers a broad range of services to support communities in need, helping to improve their prospects and the places where they live and work. It also uses its impressive environmental credentials to help businesses to cut costs and be more competitive by adopting effective environmental management systems.

Groundwork has a strong local, regional and national reputation. The endorsement by the Charity Commission means that Groundwork's network of over 40 trusts throughout the UK will not be subject to the standard regime of review visits by the Commission, because it has confidence in Groundwork's own systems.

North of England Excellence has helped Groundwork to develop its beta plus™ self-assessment process and its Comprehensive Business Assessment (CBA) process. These are both based on the European Foundation for Quality Management's Business Excellence Model and are key elements of Groundwork's more extensive Performance Management Framework.

Dave Rusk, consultant from North of England Excellence, said: "The Charity Commission has accepted that the CBA will be the means of accrediting individual trusts and will enable them to carry the Commission's Quality Standard logo

"This is a major accolade for Groundwork, and recognises its commitment to quality standards. It will also strengthen its position with partners and potential sponsors."

Tony Hawkhead, Groundwork's chief executive, said: "This formal recognition from the Charity Commission is not only an excellent reward for our commitment to delivering high standards of service, but also an acknowledgement that Groundwork is a capable organisation with high standards of governance.

"We are constantly improving the way we measure our performance and this vote of confidence demonstrates the Commission's faith in our future performance." For more information about Groundwork visit www.groundwork.org.uk

Northern Rail has been recognised for its success in getting the right people and plans in place to deliver a successful, growing railway across the north of England.

The train operator, the biggest in Britain, runs 2,500 trains each day and has attracted 22 % more passengers since it started three years ago.

In recognition of its success, Northern has been awarded an Achievement Marque in the North of England Marques of Excellence Scheme for driving towards excellence through its business processes.

Heidi Mottram, Managing Director, Northern said: "We're delighted to have achieved this recognition. We continue to strive towards excellence in everything we do and while this award shows we are on the right course, we are always looking to improve what we do."

David Teale, Chief Executive, North of England Excellence said: "Northern Rail have demonstrated their commitment to excellence, quality and continuous improvement, and I am really pleased that North of England Excellence could present Northern Rail with the Marques of Excellence achievement Marque in recognition of the great progress they have made."

Northern Rail has based its drive towards excellence on the EFQM (European Foundation Quality Management) Excellence Model. The Model is used widely throughout Europe as a framework for improving organisations of all types. The Model says that excellent results in overall performance, customers, people and society are achieved through making the most of the company's people, partnerships and resources through sound processes.

Organisations committed to achieving high standards of performance are being invited to apply for the prestigious 2008 North of England Business Excellence Awards.

Often described as the ‘business Oscars', the awards are open to private companies, public sector bodies and voluntary organisations of all sizes throughout the North of England.

The awards judge organisations against the principles of business excellence as laid out by the internationally recognised EFQM Excellence Model. Entrants are assessed on all aspects of their operation, including the way their business is run and the results it achieves. Briefing workshops are held for organisations taking part and all applicants receive feedback from a team of independent assessors.

Awards are available for both large and small public, private and ‘not for profit' organisations. There are also a number of special prizes to recognise businesses that excel in the areas of leadership, people management, customer satisfaction and corporate social responsibility.

Pete Macartney of organisers North of England Excellence says: "We are looking for organisations that take a structured approach to improving their performance and that are committed to achieving business excellence. Entering the awards offers a number of significant benefits, apart from the chance to showcase your firm as a leader in its field.

"It helps to inspire staff and focus attention on business improvement, while the assessors' report provides valuable feedback from a team of independent business specialists. It is a good opportunity to benchmark your performance against others and set targets for future initiatives."

The closing date for registrations is 15 February 2008 and the closing date for completed submission workbooks is 4th April 2008. The winners will be announced at a gala dinner in Leeds in October.

To register, contact Pete Macartney on 01925 715245 or email pete@northofenglandexcellence.co.uk

Northern Rail has been recognised for its success in getting the right people and plans in place to deliver a successful, growing railway across the north of England.

The train operator, the biggest in Britain, runs 2,500 trains each day and has attracted 22 % more passengers since it started three years ago.

In recognition of its success, Northern has been awarded an Achievement Marque in the North of England Marques of Excellence Scheme for driving towards excellence through its business processes.

Heidi Mottram, Managing Director, Northern said: "We're delighted to have achieved this recognition. We continue to strive towards excellence in everything we do and while this award shows we are on the right course, we are always looking to improve what we do."

David Teale, Chief Executive, North of England Excellence said: "Northern Rail have demonstrated their commitment to excellence, quality and continuous improvement, and I am really pleased that North of England Excellence could present Northern Rail with the Marques of Excellence achievement Marque in recognition of the great progress they have made."

Northern Rail has based its drive towards excellence on the EFQM (European Foundation Quality Management) Excellence Model. The Model is used widely throughout Europe as a framework for improving organisations of all types. The Model says that excellent results in overall performance, customers, people and society are achieved through making the most of the company's people, partnerships and resources through sound processes.