A YEAR of award success is being followed with yet more accolades for a North Yorkshire brewery.

Named Business of the Year at The Press Business Awards in November, Hunmanby-based Wold Top Brewery is now in the running to win £30,000 worth of Government support as part of a national competition.

The family-run business has been named as Best Growth Story in Yorkshire & Humber in the GREAT Faces of British Business competition, run by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, UK Trade & Investment, and supported by BT.

Following its regional win, Wold Top now hopes to secure the top title and prize.

Gill Mellor, director at Wold Top Brewery, said: "We're thrilled to have been selected as a regional winner in the GREAT Faces of British Business competition.

"There's a wealth of innovative small and medium-sized businesses out there and it's great to be recognised as one of them by the competition."

Wold Top Brewery was founded in 2003 and produces real ales from its own home and Wolds-grown malting barley, combined with chalk-filtered water from the farm's borehole.

In its first year, Wold Top Brewery converted a barn into its microbrewery and production was 300 gallons per week, with no paid staff. In 2014, there are 16 staff members excluding directors, and production is up to 4,300 gallons per week. In the next year, the brewery will increase in size by 150 per cent.

New business with Sainsbury's and Waitrose, together with a flourishing export order book, has resulted in a 40 per cent increase in sales year on year.

The winners of the competition will be decided by a combination of judging and public vote. You can vote at www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/competition

The national competition consists of the regional winners from the three categories: best exporter, most innovative business, and best growth story. The grand prix winner, selected by a national judging panel, will also be announced in March.