Nominations now underway for 2017 Business Excellence Awards

April 5, 2017 · 1 Comments

By Brock Weir

If you know a business or business owner that has gone the extra mile, done something new and creative, or helped fill a special niche in the local business community, now is your chance to sing their praises.
Nominations are now open for the 2017 Business Excellence Awards, hosted by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce.
Revived after several years’ hiatus, organizers are starting from scratch developing a new awards process, which will culminate in a special awards gala this November.
Categories include Business Excellence, which recognises overall achievement, Community Involvement, focusing on businesses with a “strong commitment to giving back” through participating in numerous organizations and events; recognizing notable achievements a business has made in global markets; New Business Venture for newer businesses demonstrating hard work, entrepreneurial initiative and success; Non-Profits, to recognize the contributions non-profit organizations make to the community; and Trailblazer for businesses that have demonstrated “innovation and creativity within their industry.”
“It has been the right time (to revive the awards) for a while, but we really needed to make sure we didn’t delay this any longer,” says Sandra Watson of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce. “We have been talking about bringing this back for a couple of years now. There have been some changes in staff and manpower has been short, but we didn’t want to delay it any longer – and we also felt the Canada 150 celebrations would be another good reason to celebrate business in Aurora.”
With the awards having been on hiatus for so long, however, the Chamber is now making a push to re-engage the community with the awards process. It is a nomination process that is open to everyone, not just members of the Aurora Chamber and, in many ways, they are starting with a “clean slate.”
“We wanted to start with a clean slate of awards and come up with something new and different,” says Ms. Watson. “I think we need to really show our Aurora businesses some love. From our side, it has been lacking for the last couple of years and we want to bring that back and really recognize and showcase the great businesses we have in this community. These awards are a huge recognition for (new businesses) because it really reinforces what they are doing and reach for the same award next year. For long-standing business, it proves that that they are doing something right – and it is bragging rights. You can’t deny the bragging rights!”
Nominations will be accepted now through May 19 at 5 p.m. The Chamber encourages the community to pay close attention to the nomination criteria and if there are any questions to reach out to them. They might have some suggestions on where businesses might best fit. Once nominations close, they will be handed over to a judging committee for review and to take things to the next level.
For more information, including nomination forms, visit www.aurorachamber.on.ca/business-excellence-awards, or contact the Chamber itself at 905-727-7262.

boblepp says:

The Mayor was president of the Chamber for many years. He gave the Chamber $10,000 at the last minute in the 2017 budget cycle to give each other awards and pay for a dinner, a waste of taxpayer money. The plaques are $50 total says the vendor. The chamber did not even have to describe how they would choose winners or why. The Mayor gave zero dollars to Canine Commons despite every councillor falling all over themselves last week telling the lead volunteer they wanted to do something for her.

The Mayor gave his pet OSPCA $45,000 MORE for 2017 for dog control, now totalling $62 for EVERY dog (6,000) in town to be “controlled”. Yes, $0.36 MILLION to the dog control in Aurora.

And $37,000 of dog tags sold. Less than 15% of dogs, 0% of cats sold. $200,000 missing every year now.

The Mayor and Council gives lip service every five years to the failing dog park volunteers, they get nothing from the Town for their efforts, not a penny and are expected to cut the grass with their own gas and mower. This is the third cycle of failure, where the volunteers have to take extreme measures JUST to get listened to.

The Chamber has been asked to support efforts to get the Council to allocate a budget NOW to the dog park, Nothing happened.

Pets are big business in any town, that is why Ren’s moved in with Global and the others. Nothing from the town supports pets in town.

The Town wastes my tax money on the Chamber of Commerce because it is part of the “old boys” network. Nothing goes to the dog park. $5,000 went to the Dead Pet Cemetery though, from 100 years ago, to dig up pet tombstones for the museum. Nothing for the 6000 live dogs in Aurora. Nothing. $1 million for one soccer field artificial turf replacement.

Yes, I am a one string banjo. I will protest every waste of money on sports and awards until the dog park gets a decent funding level every year. 20,000 voters are watching.

12:50 am on April 6, 2017

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