Northern Caribbean University (NCU) was on Saturday presented with the Manchester Chamber of Commerce (MCOC) award for excellence in education.

The annual awards banquet seeks to recognise successful and noteworthy Manchester-based business organisations, entrepreneurship and community members.

The MCOC commended NCU "for its exploits in the fields of research in cancer and bauxite production technology, placing third in the world for information technology in the Microsoft Imagine Cup competition, held in Korea and all-round academic excellence.

Other awardees included Dr. Ainsley Dujon who copped the top prize for health; Jamaica Standard Products, which came out victorious in the manufacturers category; Atlas Security was awarded for excellence in security; Ralph James for sports and Paul Byfield for media. Heart Trust/NTA was also presented with an award for excellence in education.

Sweet returns

Cecil Dawkins, Jamaica's premier producer of Busta sweet, received the coveted President's award. The young entrepreneur said National Commercial Bank and NCU's Morris Entrepreneur-ship Centre were instrumental in him being successful. In accepting the award, he stated that there are many young persons who have an entrepreneurial spirit and are ambitious. "All they need is a push start," he said.