Tracy Hoodless is no stranger to winning Oxfordshire Business Awards - she has picked up three in the last 12 years. The owner of Champion Recruitment took the Customer Service award in 1996 and a decade later was made Business Person of the Year.

And last year Champion scooped the Customer and Staff Care honour again for its services to clients and candidates alike.

She said: "The Oxfordshire Business Awards is a very good competition because it allows all sorts of companies and individuals to take part."

Winning a business award means Ms Hoodless has been able to spread news of her success by recording the fact on all company e-mails and letters, but it goes beyond that.

"It really is a talking point and people can see what is involved and hopefully why we have won it. That shows people who don't even know you that they can expect a high standard from the company."

The company was started in 1981 in Oxford by Mrs Hoodless. It now employs 68 people directly and she is predicting a turnover of £34m, having seen it grow by £9m in the last three years.

As well as the Oxford office, the firm now has bases in Abingdon, Witney and Banbury.

Not surprisingly, given she has won two business awards for it, she puts customer service down as the secret of her success, along with realistic, competitive pricing.

Champion is the agency used by all the Oxfordshire councils, as it can provide candidates across a wide range of disciplines Mrs Hoodless sees the next phase of expansion being in the information technology area and she predicts the company will be conducting far more business on the Internet. Champion has also opened a human resources division this year.

The consultants at Champion see about 13,500 jobseekers face-to-face every year and Mrs Hoodless says about 95 per cent of temporary staff are found positions, with about a third of those seeking permanent employment.

And Mrs Hoodless is a firm believer in putting something back into the community, donating more than £250,000 a year to local charities.

Most recent donations included £30,000 to the Hinksey Sculling School, which is trying to make rowing accessible to all youngsters, regardless of social background.

A similar figure has been donated to the Damascus Youth Project, which takes its name from the first letters of the areas it represents - Drayton, Appleford, Milton, Sutton Courtenay and Steventon.

It has been set up to offer activities for teenagers who live in those villages and who do not have many facilities nearby.

Champion also made a £160,000 donation to the Oxford Children's Hospital campaign, with £60,000 paying for cardiac defibrilators and resuscitation trolleys.

Mrs Hoodless said: "My daughter was born with a narrow aorta, and was brought back to life several times before she had a life-saving operation in London when she was just 13 days old."

Mrs Hoodless recalled how, when she was 17, she told her mother she wanted to go and join a kibbutz in the Middle East. But after her mother warned her that she could end up being shot, she dropped the idea and instead joined a recruitment agency in Streatham, South London as an office junior.

"The person running the agency was a wonderful woman called Carol Champion and she taught me a great deal," said Mrs Hoodless. "I took the name, and in 1981, I opened up Champion Recruitment in Oxford.

"It was just me for the first six months, and then I got two more staff and the business grew from there."

Mrs Hoodless's husband Quentin helps run the business and daughter Sally works for Champion in quality and marketing.

She takes pride in it being a family business but this year there is no chance of Champion winning an Oxfordshire Business Award, as Mrs Hoodless has joined the list of sponsors and will be judging the award category she was won twice before.

Perhaps that is the most fitting tribute to her success and that of her company.

l Bosses and staff at the Oxfordshire Business of the Year are celebrating again after scooping another major award.

Engineering firm Crompton Technology Group has won the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) Business Award for Manufacturing.

The judges described Banbury-based CTG as exceptional,' highlighting its customer satisfaction rating of 99.9 per cent.

Operations director Alan Baker said: "This is more great recognition for everyone at CTG who has helped in the rapid growth of the company."

The firm designs and manufactures advanced composite materials for high technology industries including aerospace, motor sport, medical imaging and clean energy.

o For details on how to enter the 2008 Oxfordshire Business Awards see www.oxfordshirebusinessawards.co.uk