Emily Plihal
Local Journalism
Initiative Reporter
Peace River & District Chamber of Commerce has opened the nomination period to recognize exemplary businesses in the region by nominating them for a Davis Award.
Chamber of Commerce executive director Reilly Bassendowski says the awards are a way to recognize hard-working businesses in the Peace Country and their contributions to the community.
“Davis Awards are our small business awards,” she explains.
“It is really important to celebrate our business community and the contributions and impact that they have on our region.”
Awards include: Business-of-the-Year (one to nine employees); Business-of-the-Year (10 or more employees); Community Impact Award, Outstanding Customer Service Award, Business Leader-of-the-Year, Young Entrepreneur Award, Marketer-of-the- Year, and President’s Award.
“Each award has its own guidelines and criteria which can be found on our website,” Bassen- dowski says.
“Anyone can nominate a business, and we recognize them at a dinner and awards presentation.
She adds the Davis Awards Gala will be held on Feb. 7.
In order to be nominated for an award, businesses must be in operation at the time of the awards.
Chamber staff reserves the right to reallocate nominees into the appropriate award category if the nomination is determined to be ineligible in the category submitted. Businesses do not need to be a chamber member to be nominated to win, although members will receive two extra points in the scoring process.
Bassendowski explains the chamber’s current board of directors do not participate on the judging panel, nor are they involved in any nominee or judging processes.
Chamber staff are ineligible for nomination as they are involved in all nominees and judging processes.
Nominations will remain open for the awards from Oct. 1-31. Businesses are nominated through an electronic survey that is sent out by the chamber asking individuals to choose businesses for each of the categories listed above.
The chamber is comprised of nearly 200 businesses in and around the Peace Country.
If you would like to nominate a business for any of the awards or would like additional information, please visit www.peaceriverchamber.com.