TOWN chairman-elect Dean Hoyle is among 11 Yorkshire contenders for a top business award.

Mr Hoyle, who heads greeting cards retailer Sportswift – which runs the Card Factory chain – is among nominations for the title of Ernst & Young North and Midland Entrepreneur of the Year.

The 11 nominees from Yorkshire firms are among 43 business leaders competing for the title, to be announced in June.

Mr Hoyle, set to take over as Town chairman from Ken Davy this summer, began his business in the early 1990s – selling greetings cards from the back of his van in his home town of Wakefield.

By 1997, he and his wife Janet had set up Card Factory with the aim of selling quality cards at low prices. Card Factory now has about 400 stores across the UK, including one at the Packhorse Centre in Huddersfield. Last year, it also acquired the 80-strong Card Warehouse chain.

Finalists in this year’s competition will be hoping to emulate the success of Richard Harpin, chief executive of home emergency insurance provider HomeServe. York-based Mr Harpin was named Ernst & Young's UK Overall Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008.