OLDS — The Olds & District Chamber of Commerce is asking for nominations for it's various awards, which will be presented during it's annual Small Business Awards gala this fall.
This year, the chamber has created three new awards and have amalgamated a few others.
The new ones are the Innovation award and the Best New Business award.
The third new one is the Barb Babiak Sparkplug award, in honour of the late Barb Babiak who served as executive director of the chamber for many years.
Other awards up for grabs are Business Of The Year, People’s Choice, Youth Employee Of The Year, the President’s award and Exceptional Customer Service.
To keep the total number of awards handed out similar to past years so the evening won’t extend too long, a couple of awards issued in previous years have been amalgamated into one.
For example, in the case of the Community Spirit award, the non-profit and for-profit categories have been combined into one.
Similarly, Business of the Year is now just one award. The former categories of 16 employees and over and 15 or fewer are combined.
The Business Innovation award will be given to a business that has implemented strategies and products that “signify outside-of-the-box thinking," the chamber's website says.
“Whether it’s in the form of their management strategies, business models, product design and manufacturing techniques, or marketing strategy, this award recognizes innovation in all aspects.”
The Best New Business award will be handed out to start-up businesses that have shown promise through growth and a successful business strategy.
To qualify, that firm must be in business for at least one year and a maximum of 36 months as of September each year.
Details of the Barb Babiak Sparkplug award are still being fine-tuned.
The deadline to file nominations for all the chamber awards is Aug. 15.
Those nomination forms can be found on the Olds & District Chamber of Commerce website at https://www.oldsalberta.com/agm-2023 . Printed forms are available at the Albertan office.
The Business Beer & Blue Jeans event, during which the nominees are announced will once again be held in September as it used to be before the COVID-19 pandemic gathering restrictions.
This year’s edition will take place Sept. 27 in the Werklund Agriculture & Technology Centre on the Olds College of Agriculture and Technology campus.
“We will announce the nominees at that event and you can come and have your cocktail of choice and some snacks,” said Murray Elliott, chair of the Olds & District Chamber of Commerce Small Business Awards Committee.
The Small Business Awards event will be held Oct. 19 at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #105.
For many years, that event has been held at the college's Alumni Centre.
“We just thought we’d switch it up a little bit this year,” Elliott said, adding the chamber wants to support various entities in town.
“We thought we are holding Business Beer & Blue Jeans at the college so we’re supporting them and we’re supporting the legion at the same time,” he said.
