Over 160 nominations were made and now 94 unique nominees are being contacted to complete their award application. The Fernie Chamber of Commerce has contacted the 94 nominees with an award application form. The form asks the business questions specific to the award they have been nominated for. For example, outstanding customer service award asks businesses to tell the judges how they provide great service and to include references to online review forums.

“Our goal is to have the businesses provide details about their operations relevant to the award. A panel of judges then review the details and score the details to the award criteria,” states Patty Vadnais, Executive Director. The Chamber solicits judges from outside of the Fernie area to remove local bias. In the past our judges have included university professors, business owners, and chamber executives from across the province and country.

The Business Excellence awards are about action and about what the businesses have accomplished. We gather as much experience data from the business as we can to identify businesses going above and beyond.

The public can get involved in the awards fun by voting for the People’s Choice Award. All nominees are entered to the people choice and voting takes place online. Click here to vote for your favourite nominee.

Business have until September 21 to complete their award applications. At that time, the information will be forwarded to the judges for scoring. On October 6th the Chamber will announce the finalists. Finalists will be celebrated at a VIP Reception on October 22nd at Park Place Lodge. Winners will be announced at the Business Excellence Awards on October 26th at Best Western Plus Fernie Mountain Lodge.