Nominations open today for North of Boston Businesswomen Awards

LYNN – Nominations open today for the 10th Annual North of Boston Businesswomen of the Year Lydia E. Pinkham Awards, which will be presented at a breakfast 7:30-9 a.m. Oct. 25 at Spinelli’s in Lynnfield.The event, organized by The Daily Item, will feature Gail Huff, prominent Boston broadcast journalist and wife of U.S. Senator Scott Brown, as keynote speaker.Nominations are open now through Sept. 17 for women in three categories: small business (1-49 employees), large business (50 or more employees) and non-profit business.Nomination forms can be filled out online at www.womenbizawards.com.Nominations are only available through the Web site.”Nominations are set up so that anyone who knows a deserving woman can simply visit the Web site and submit the person by filling out a simple form. Nominees are then contacted to participate in the event,” said Tara Cleary, the Item’s director of advertising and new media, who has organized the awards event since 2006. “We look for women who exemplify professional accomplishments, community service and integrity.”In addition to the three Lydia E. Pinkham Awards to businesswomen, two deserving female North Shore Community College students will receive $1,000 scholarships at the breakfast.”The Item is proud to have put on this event for the past 10 years. We wouldn’t be able to do it without the support of our sponsors who continue to give even though we are in a down economy, showing they truly care about local businesswomen,” Cleary said.This year’s sponsors include Platinum Sponsor General Electric, Gold Sponsor North Shore Community College and Silver Sponsor R&L Associate, Inc.The Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce, North Shore Chamber of Commerce and Marblehead Chamber of Commerce are participating organizations.Cleary said the Daily Item is pleased to have Gail Huff as the keynote speaker for the annual breakfast.”Her perspective as TV reporter, mother and now wife of a U.S. Senator will bring a new dimension to the event,” she said.Huff worked for 17 years as a general assignment reporter for Boston’s ABC affiliate, WCVB TV Channel 5. She left the station recently to spend more time with her husband in Washington D.C., where she begins this fall as a reporter for Washington’s ABC affiliate, WILA.Huff is a graduate of Waltham High School and received a Bachelor of Science degree in business communications from Bentley College. She attended a graduate program in broadcast journalism at Emerson College.She began her broadcast journalism career in Greenville, N.C. at WNCT, a CBS affiliate, where she anchored the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. She later worked as a reporter at CBS stations in Providence, R.I. (WLNE) and Hartford, Conn. (WFSB).On Lifetime TV, Huff moderated and co-hosted a half-hour parenting series along with Child Psychologist Dr. Penelope Leach called, “Your Baby and Child.”She has received numerous awards for her work with charity and non-profit organizations. Among the groups she is most involved are the Alzheimer’s Association, American Stroke Association, Kennedy-Donovan Center and Horace Mann Education Association. She remains committed to working with children adults with disabilities.Gail and her husband, who divide their time between Washington and their home in Wrentham, are the proud parents of Ayla, a singer who works as a Special Contributor to The Early Show on CBS, and Arianna, a pre-med student at Syracuse University.Spinelli’s is located on Route 1 North in Lynnfield. Tickets to North of Boston Businesswomen of the Year Lydia E. Pinkham Awards are $30 ($300 for table of 10). Tickets go on sale Sept. 3 and will be available at www.womenbizawards.com, or reserve tickets by calling 781-593-7700 ext. 1254.