Judges have now decided who among the office workers of York is "simply the best".

But the winner of the York Business College YBC Recruitment competition won't be known until Thursday, February 10, when there will be a glittering reception at the Novotel in York.

There were more than 1,000 requests for applications by employers who thought that a member of their staff had the best chance of winning the top prize of a trip to New York, but only 27 finalists were selected to compete for the ten substantial prizes.

These include a trip on the Orient Express, a tour and visit to the Globe Theatre with an after-performance luxury dinner for two, vouchers for the McArthur Glen Designer shopping outlet with personal shopping adviser, a platinum year's free membership to Barbican's fitness facilities, and services of a personal image consultant.

The judges were Roland Harris, chief executive of York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, James O'Brien, a director of the National Pitman Training Group, Sue Morris, director of the Theatre Royal, Roy Wadsworth, the industrial chaplain for York, and Sarah Barry, sales manager for Minster FM. As a team, they interviewed the individual candidates and their sponsoring bosses.

One of the honoured guests at the February reception will be last year's Simply The Best winner, Anne Abbiss, of CGU Life.

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