Chamber wants more award nominees

The Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce is still looking for more nominations for its 12th-annual business awards.
“Things are going okay, but they’re not going fabulously,” Chamber manager Dawn Booth noted late yesterday.
“We’ve got about 41 nominations, and I’ve talked to quite a few people in the last few days who said they have nominations they’ll be sending in by [today].”
While the deadline for submitting entries technically was the end of the day today (Friday), Booth said any entries that get into her by Tuesday morning will be accepted.
(For example, they can be dropped off in the mail slot at the Chamber office on Scott Street over the holiday weekend).
Booth said she’s hoping to get 100 nominations this time around but, more than anything, wants to see at least three nominations in each category.
She noted a few categories have fewer than three nominations, including Business Woman of the Year, Town of Fort Frances Accessibility Award, Customer Service (Individual), Abitibi-Consolidated Safety Award, Tony Beyak Volunteer of the Year, and Small Business Trainer of the Year—a new award to be presented to a business with 15 or less employees that consistently hires unskilled or underskilled workers.
The other categories include Business of the Year (1-15 employees), Business of the Year (16+ employees), Employee of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, and Customer Service (Business).
Nomination forms are available at the Chamber office (474 Scott St.) as well as on the Chamber’s website at www.fortfranceschamber.com
Businesses or individuals can nominate themselves for awards, with the only exception being the Tony Beyak Memorial Volunteer of the Year Award.
Filling out a nomination form doesn’t take much time, except the Volunteer of the Year, which requires a write-up of why the person is being nominated, any volunteer groups they belong to, how long they’ve been involved, and why they’re worthy of Volunteer of the Year.
The business awards banquet will take place Nov. 3 at La Place Rendez-Vous.
Although this is the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce’s awards gala, all district businesses are eligible for nomination. In fact, many businesses from Emo, Rainy River, and other communities have won awards in past years.
A total of 82 nominations, listing 75 different nominees, were received for the 2006 business awards.