Examiner staff have now contacted all finalists in each of the 26 award categories but the judging process - where mystery shoppers seek out the services of each finalist and score them based on their interaction - will begin once businesses are able to operate openly.

"We recognise that it's not business as usual at the moment, that some of our businesses are operating in a limited capacity, if they can at all, during the current COVID-19 outbreak," Examiner sales representative and business awards organiser Judi Bot-Wessler said.

"This is not an ideal time to carry out the judging process so we are going to wait until the situation is more settled. All finalists will be contacted again before judging begins."

Due to the resurgence of COVID-19 in the community the Annual Business Awards gala dinner and ceremony where category winners are announced has been cancelled. The awards ceremony was due to be held at Shoal Bay Convention Centre on Wednesday, October 13.

"The wellbeing of our community is our highest priority which is why we have made the difficult but necessary decision to cancel the awards night," Mrs Bot-Wessler said.

"But we are still going to celebrate our wonderful business community. Once the awards judging has been complete we will announce the winners in a COVID-Safe way. We hope to celebrate with our winners once we're able to."

The official finalist guide for the 2021 Annual Business Awards, highlighting all 130 finalists, will be included in the Thursday, October 7 edition of the Port Stephens Examiner.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: