Chamber business awards shaping up

With nomination forms due out in the next few weeks, the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce has lined up all but one sponsor for its annual business awards, co-ordinator Dawn Booth said this morning.
“We’re still looking for someone to sponsor Employee of the Year,” she noted, adding while Canada Post already has sponsored this award, the second sponsor can choose either the private sector or not-for-profit category to support.
She noted the perks of being a sponsor include having the name of your business on promotional materials and acknowledgment during the awards banquet, as well as tickets to the banquet and the opportunity to give a speech and present the winner with the award.
Other award categories, the winners of which will be honoured at the banquet slated March 29 at the Fort Frances Curling Club, include:
•Business of the Year (1-15 employees)—B-93 FM;
•Business of the Year (16+ employees)—Bell Canada;
•Training and Adjustment—Northwest Training and Adjustment Board;
•Abitibi-Consolidated Safety Award (business and individual)—Abitibi-Consolidated;
•Customer Service Award (business)—BDO Dunwoody;
•Customer Service Award (individual)—Good Impressions Printing;
•Entrepreneur of the Year—Rainy River Future Development Corp.; and
•Tony Beyak Memorial Volunteer of the Year—Chamber of Commerce.
The latter is new to the nomination process this year. It was awarded to Doug Cain at last year’s banquet, but being a “last-minute award” decided by the Chamber, it was not listed on the nomination forms.
Beyak was a former president of the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce who passed away suddenly last year.
“We thought it was very important to recognize volunteers. The Chamber is basically run by volunteers and what we do wouldn’t be possible without them,” said Booth.
“There’s so many volunteers in this town, it’s nice to recognize what they do for the community,” she added.
For more information, or to sponsor the “Employee of the Year” award, call Booth at 274-5373.
Nomination forms will be sent out in a few weeks, and also will be available on the Chamber’s Web site at www.fortfranceschamber.com