Celebrating excellence
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Strathmore Wheatland Chamber of Commerce (SWCC) is excited to announce the return of their annual Business Excellence Awards (BEA), this time being hosted in person.
Strathmore’s BEA is still a relatively young event, having only been created a few years ago, prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Like everybody, we had to revisit and figure out how to do it online for a couple of years, and so bringing it back so that we can have an audience … and (have) the ability to be able to visit with one another and congratulate everyone for another successful year is so important,” said Hayley Poirier, chair of the Strathmore FCSS.
She explained the idea behind creating the event was to celebrate the local business community for their achievements and standards of excellence.
The BEA consists of 13 categories for which a business can be nominated for. Anyone from Strathmore, Wheatland County or abroad can nominate a business they feel is deserving to be considered for recognition.
“We will have a panel of judges who will be given the categories and all of the nominees, and then they will get to work and decide who they feel is the most deserving to be winning the award for 2022,” said Poirier. “We get hundreds of nominations coming in, in all 13 categories, (and) it is usually very diverse. Some categories get more nominations than others, but that is pretty typical.”
Nominations for businesses must be submitted to the SWCC by Jan. 15 in order for them to be considered. This is possible through the SWCC website, where more information regarding nomination categories is also available.
Criteria for which nominated businesses will be evaluated are based on a 10-point system, and include customer service, advertising, and presentation, among others.
Poirier added even if a nominated business does not receive an award, simply being nominated goes to show an impression having been made for their patrons.
“Even a nomination is really a great recognition of how hard that business is working, because they are being nominated by somebody in the community, and that, in my mind, shows that you are being recognized as a business that is standing above the crowd,” she said. “To win the award annually is quite spectacular. It puts you on a pedestal, it puts you out there as being one of the top-rated businesses in the area for that year, and it is pretty darn special.”
More information regarding the event and associated details are available through the SWCC website. The BEA will be hosted Jan. 27 at the Strathmore Civic Centre.