THAT'S it. Deadline has been reached. The deluge of last-minute entries is over. Now the big question remains: Who will be the victor in the Evening Press Business Awards 2000?

Judging is about to begin for the competition which, in its tenth year, has proved to be the biggest, most prestigious and best represented yet.

And the judges have a tough task because the standard of all the entrants is phenomenally high.

Many have already appeared in the Evening Press and in the pink monthly Business Press. Dozens more will be featured in the weeks to come.

They range from a top brewery, national haulier and insurance giant to engineers, e-commerce wizards, and hotels; from film-makers, estate agents and marketeers, to shops/restaurants, conference electronics experts and milliners; exporters, growth businesses to flyers ...

The awards are backed by Barclays Bank (Small Business of the Year), North Yorkshire Training and Enterprise Council (Progress Through People Award), Compris (Best Innovative Use of New Technology), Yorkshire Water (Best Environmental Company), York and North Yorkshire Export Forum (Exporter of the Year), Torch Telecom (Growth Business of the Year), Garbutt & Elliott (Business Personality of the Year) and DE Ford insurance brokers (New Business of the Year).

Finalists will feature in their own video to be screened at a glittering awards ceremony at the Merchant Adventurers' Hall, York, on November 30.

One good example of what to expect is Rosie Pressland and her amazing Pocklington Montessori School.

Her categories are Small Business of the Year, the Progress Through People Award and, unsurprisingly, Business Personality of the Year

In nine years, Rosie has taken the revolutionary nursery school from a 12-place annexe for rising five-year-olds to a 170-place school for rising eight-year-olds with 45 staff on the A1079 just out of town.

Montessori is a method which allows small children quickly to learn second languages, maths, science, history and biology.

Among her greatest - and most recent - achievements was establishing I-C-Eye - her Internet College for Early Years Education in conjunction with CACHE, the accreditation body for early years courses.

Rosie says proudly: "These are interactive courses which will now be affordable, accessible and of the highest quality."