MOBILE phone giant O2 is calling on firms to enter the largest local business awards event of the year.

O2, which has a workforce of 1,400 at its call centre in Dumers Lane, Bury, is sponsoring a new category in the Bolton and Bury Business Awards 2007.

The Community Award is to encourage and reward businesses, individuals and organisations who make a committed and proactive contribution to their local community.

The judges will also seek evidence of how good business management has helped this goal.

This new award brings the total number of categories at this year's Bolton and Bury Business Awards to 11.

And it also highlights O2's ongoing commitment to the community.

O2 UK community manager Ann McCracken said: "We feel it will recognise and reward those companies that give that little bit extra to the community.

"We feel it's only right, given that we are a big employer in the area. Also, the majority of the people who work at our call centre live in Bury.

"Additionally, we know how respected and popular the Awards are and we felt this was something very much worthwhile we'd like to support. We wish to be seen working with the community across Bury."

O2 has proved itself an award winner too.

In November, its Bury operation was crowned the Best in the North-west in the NW Call and Contact Centre Awards.

Staff at Dumers Lane support 11.5 million O2 pay-as-you-go customers as well as Tesco Mobile, a joint venture between O2 and Tesco.

And earlier this month, O2 entered the Sunday Times' 2007 Best Big Companies to Work For List and was awarded a two-star accreditation denoting an "outstanding" company.

The report is based on extensive research of company employees, including those based in Bury, assessing workplace culture, practices and employee sentiment towards their employers.

O2 prides itself on a culture that gives its employees the opportunity to shape the company.

Specific initiatives at the Bury call centre include schemes committed to attracting and hiring a diverse workforce.

The centre has built strong relationships with organisations such as the Shaw Trust, which supports disabled and disadvantaged people back into work; ADAB (Asian Development Association Bury), which helps people from ethnic minorities find employment; and Real Deal, a not-for-profit recruitment agency, which assists people to retrain for alternative careers.

l Closing date for entries is Friday, April 13. The Awards will be presented at the Premier Suite in the De Vere Whites Hotel at Bolton's Reebok Stadium on June 28.