OLDS — The deadline to submit nominations for the annual Olds & District Chamber of Commerce Small Business Awards has been extended to Aug. 31.
Small Business Awards committee chair Murray Elliott announced that decision Aug. 16. The awards will be presented Oct. 19 during a gala at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #105.
The call for nominations was initially made late last month.
“We need more nominations, that’s all there is to it,” Elliott said. “We are getting some decent action after nominations, but we certainly need a lot more.”
He noted that it can be tough to reach people at this time of year as many are on holidays.
This year, the chamber has created a couple of new awards and amalgamated a few others.
The new ones are the Innovation award and the Best New Business award.
Presentation of a third new award – the Barb Babiak Sparkplug award, named in honour of the late Barb Babiak – has been postponed until next year. Babiak served as executive director of the chamber for many years.
“We needed to make a few more changes (to it),” Elliott said.
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.
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 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,” Elliott said.
