In a reassuring sign of the strength and resilience of the Orange economy, the 2026 Business Orange Awards is looking to be bigger and better than ever. Being hosted again this year at Banksia (the former Turner's Vineyard on the Mitchell Highway), the Friday 'night of nights' event is going to be chockers for local retailers, enterprises, and industry, organiser Mel Watson confirmed.

"This is my first year coordinating, and there's been very much a high demand for tickets," Mel revealed. "It pretty much sold out a week before, and we have a 300-strong waitlist for tickets; it gets bigger and better every year," she added. As well as the booming attendance, new award sections have also shown the strength and variety of the local service sector. "We've got a couple of new categories, most notable of which is the Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award. "This is about celebrating local efforts and local businesses who have become more inclusive in how they operate," Mel explained.

The awards will also celebrate a milestone for a much-loved local institution this year, with another new category for in-between-sized operations. "OCTEC – they do great work in the community – has come on board as our event partner for what is their 50th anniversary. "This year also, as well as micro, small, and large businesses, we're now introducing a category for medium-sized businesses," Mel said.

In other news, Business Orange has again booked the unfiltered comedy of Julia Wilson to take the stage as master of ceremonies for this year's Business Orange Awards Night. Among the prizes, this year's program features 24 categories in total, including 20 judged business and industry categories and four People's Choice categories decided by a public vote, all designed to acknowledge excellence across all business sectors and sizes.

The Excellence in Professional Services category was perhaps the biggest indicator of the growth of the program, needing to be split into two divisions, for businesses of four employees and under, and five employees and over, following a record number of entries in the category this year.

Quality, as well as quantity, is also up for the awards this year, Mel said, for an event started way back in the 1980s under the auspices of local business titan, Chris Gryllis. "Total submissions this year have seen a growth of about 5 per cent with 77 unique organisations, that's a fairly substantial increase on previous years and is a record number of finalists and also individual businesses," Mel enthused. "The feedback from Business NSW is also that the entries were incredibly strong and the scores were incredibly close," she concluded. But who will get the golden crown on the night, she said, is a closely guarded secret!

The final award, Outstanding Business of the Year, will be revealed – along with all other winners – at the Business Orange Awards Gala Night this Friday, September 25, at Banksia.