From small firms to multi-million-pound empires, a parade of products, deals and inspirational individuals were on show at Portsmouth Guildhall for The Business Excellence Awards.

The awards, run by The News, included nine commendations, eight runners-up, and eight overall winners.

All 48 shortlisted businesses were praised for their efforts in making it through the selection process.

Mark Waldron, editor of The News, opened the night with a speech in which he said: 'There is a lot of talk about economic gloom right now, and clearly we are heading into a challenging year.

'But there's truth in the old adage that when the going gets tough, the tough get going.'

The winner of the top category, Business of the Year, was a well-established Portsmouth stalwart. But that did not stop Techno-graph Microcircuits boss Brian Basford from being 'shellshocked' at the win.

The firm, based in Walton Road, is one of the top circuit-makers in Britain, handling high-prestige jobs from multinational companies, and defying the credit crunch with a powerful push for investment in 2008.

Mr Basford told The News afterwards: 'We're totally chuffed to get it, the whole team put in has put in so much effort. Things are starting to come together, even though there's a recession.

'There's still business out there, and we can get a good slice of it. There are people out there who say, ''let's keep going on'', and that's the spirit that'll see us through.'

Runners up were fast-ferry fitter Burgess Marine, keeping the city's marine heritage alive with its big-ticket ferry engineering projects, followed by electronics manufacturer Novatech.

Small Business of the Year was scooped by Solent Carpentry Services, a carpentry firm beating the downturn in construction with good growth.

And a very special award went to one of Portsmouth's most illustrious businessmen – Dr Jay Kettle-Williams, a linguist and entrepreneur, and this year's president of the Chamber of Commerce.

The 60-year-old father of two was elected by The News' panel of judges to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award – but was sadly not there to receive the accolade, which was instead handed to Chamber Chief Executive Maureen Frost.