LIFE is blooming marvellous and coming up roses for everyone at Bunches Florapost – the flowers-by-post firm.

The Newstead village business carried off the Nottingham Post's coveted title, Nottinghamshire Company of the Year at a glittering awards ceremony.

Click here to see our photos from the Nottingham Post Business Awards.

The business has been helping customers say it with flowers for more than 20 years, and has turned that simple act into an enterprise with a turnover in excess of £6 million a year.

Founded in 1989 when Erik and Sandra Hoving set up a flower stall in Mansfield market, Bunches has come a long way. Today, employing more than 40 people full time plus as many again on a seasonal basis, it is based in custom-built premises to which a £1 million extension was added three years ago.

And although UK flower sales declined last year, Bunches grew its business by 15 per cent and currently has some 12 per cent of the flowers-by-post market.

The KPMG and Nottinghamshire County Council-sponsored accolade was presented during a ceremony, sponsored by The University of Nottingham, at The Council House, which featured video profiles of all the finalists.

The founders' original trade evolved into a flowers-by-post business which was incorporated as Bunches in 1990.

Its services have long been available through any UK post office, but today some 70 per cent of its orders come via its website and, demonstrating remarkable growth, orders have gone from five bouquets a week to more than 6,500.

The firm has also diversified, adding lines ranging from helium-filled party balloons and houseplants to greetings cards, soft toys and chocolates.

What is more, the company gives 10 per cent of its profits to charitable projects in the UK and developing countries.

Icon Polymer, Source BioScience and St Tropez Group were also finalists.

Nottinghamshire Small Business of the Year

Educational business Prime Principle is top of the class again – having won the Business Link-sponsored Nottinghamshire Small Business of the Year award.

Started six years ago as an undergraduate project, the core of its profitable rise has been classroom monitor, an on-line programme which helps teachers spend more time teaching and less on paperwork.

The firm has now moved its products on from the software-on-a-disk stage to being fully accessible on-line. And with annual sales of well over £1 million it is set to grow by 20 per cent this year and is predicted to reach £2 million within two years.

The company's software provides teachers with an easy way to generate ongoing assessments of pupils.

It is now an integral part of everyday life in more than 1,500 educational establishments across the UK, with 15,000 teachers working in local authority schools and nurseries using it to host and manage data for around 185,000 pupils.

A secondary school version was launched this year, and Prime Principle is adding four to five new schools to its client list each month.

Variations are being developed for the Australian and Scottish markets.

Betterlanguages.com and Phoenix CNC Engineering were also finalists.

Nottinghamshire Young Businessperson of the Year

T&S Group's founding managing director James Smith is walking tall after carrying off the EMDA-sponsored Nottinghamshire Young Businessperson of the Year award.

He has almost doubled the firm's sales to well over £5 million in the past 12 months.

Now with a bulging order book, and turnover set to double again this year, the group is well on its way to annual sales of £10 million.

One of the clever people who saw the recession coming, he prepared by spreading the firm's wings across a diverse range of new sectors.

As a result T&S – formerly concentrating on electrical services for the retail sector – now also designs, makes and installs security metalwork, and does mechanical engineering work for construction firms. It also makes furniture for schools, hospitals, leisure centres and secure accommodation, as well as being an aluminium door, window and wall specialist.

That expansion has helped the Tuxford company boost its workforce to top the 100-people mark for the first time.

James, who left school at 16 and completed a four-year electrical engineering apprenticeship in just three years, founded T&S in 2004.

Hall-Fast Industrial Supplies founder Malcolm Hall and Columbus IT managing director Mary Hunter also won through to the finals.

New Enterprise of the Year

Aware Monitoring has won the Nottingham City Council-sponsored New Enterprise of the Year award.

Launching its first products in December last year, it has already won contracts from some of the UK's top web application providers.

Its software offerings help ensure that users' website applications work as efficiently as possible and are being used to monitor performance of the Ladbroke and William Hill mobile phone betting platforms, and dieting-aid websites run by Boots and the NHS.

The business' founders Nick Barker and Simon Oxley have a combined total of 25 years experience in using and selling the largest system monitoring applications from some of the world's biggest names.

Having spotted a niche focussing on web applications, rather than websites, they decided to produce a world-class product to meet what they saw as untapped demand.

Their product checks web page content to ensure it is correct, that pages are not slowing down, and that sign-ins are working properly.

It e-mails and SMS text messages site owners to advise of slowdowns and failures – enabling rectification of defects which can lead to dissatisfied customers and loss of business.

A Star Media and Cherry Professional were the other finalists.

Business Innovation Award

Upper Cut Productions has proved it is a cut above the rest by snapping up the Browne Jacobson-sponsored Business Innovation award.

The firm has become the SAS of aerial photography after it developed its own series of pilotless aircraft to take its cameras up in the air.

Its latest remote controlled giro-stabilised version – similar to "drones" used by US and British troops for warfare in Afghanistan – features 12 rotors to hold it steady in flight. It gives excellent, very cost-effective results, and can hover safely in places where manned aircraft would find it difficult to go.

Electrically-powered, the drones are improving the two-year-old Nottingham company's scope, product quality, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness.

Traditional options had included manned aircraft, cherry pickers, masts, balloons or scaffolding, but they all had their drawbacks

Upper Cut was formed to exploit a niche market for low cost and flexible aerial photography – and claims to be the only video production company specialising in remote aerial imagery.

Challenge Consulting and Peelable Posters also made the finals.

Best use of IT and Communications

John Pye & Sons can't be outbid – it has won the BT Local Business East Midlands-sponsored Best Use of IT & Communications award.

The auctioneers and valuers has become one of the largest – and fastest growing – auction houses in the UK.

To achieve that level of performance it relies on its Assetline in-house-developed programme which enables staff to work faster and smarter to keep track of millions of items and transactions.

The portal is also accessible by selected clients and is linked to the firm's on-line auctions, which have grown to almost match its twice-weekly general auction sales income.

The firm now employs more than 50 people, having doubled its headcount in the past three years, and has quadrupled its turnover in the past six.

Based on the former Shipstone's brewery site, it has a two-acre secure compound, three salerooms, 160 self storage units and an office hub. It also has support offices in Birmingham and Cheltenham.

Betterlanguages.com and Heart Internet also won through to the final frame.