The Fernie Chamber of Commerce is excited to announce that the annual Fernie Business Excellence Awards will take place again this year on Friday 21 October at the Rusty Edge. Nominations from the public are now open! The nominations period will run from today until 5pm on Friday 2 September 2022.
To nominate your favourite business, organization or individual across the categories – please click here to cast your nomination.
There will be twelve award categories this year – with three of them being new to the event last year. Awards that will be given out on the night are Citizen of the Year, Community Group of the Year, New Business of the Year, Community Tourism Achievement, Employer of the Year, Environmental Sustainability Award, Businessperson of the Year, Outstanding Customer Service, Business Innovation Award, Chamber Business Legacy Award, Fernie Business of the Year, and the People’s Choice Award.
Fernie Chamber Executive Director Brad Parsell explains, “This is hands-down our favourite event of the year where we get to celebrate outstanding achievement within our business and non-profit community here in Fernie. Businesses in Fernie continue to endure challenges around things like the increasing cost of doing business and an unprecedent worker shortage, so its nice to be able to step back and applaud all the effort these organizations put in to making Fernie an awesome place to live and visit.”
The Fernie Chamber encourages the public to make their nominations ahead of the deadline of 5:00pm local time on Friday 2 September. If local businesses are interested being a sponsor for this year’s business awards, they are encouraged to get in touch with the Fernie Chamber as soon as possible. More details around the awards gala at the Rusty Edge on Friday 21 October (including ticket information) will be coming out in September – stay tuned.
How voting and judging works: Anyone can nominate a business or individual for any award they feel meets the criteria outlined on the online nomination survey. All nominees will then be contacted once the nomination period closes and asked to submit an awards package that will be used by the judges to determine the finalists and winners. This form will be reviewed by an independent panel of judges from outside the Fernie area. Based on the information and details provided by the nominee, the judges will rate the nominees against the award criteria. The highest rated nominee will win. Exceptions to this process are Citizen of the Year and the Chamber Legacy Award – which are both judged by the Fernie Chamber board of directors. Businesses and organizations nominated in all categories will be on the ballot for the People’s Choice award that the public will vote on in September.
