Every month Snap Magazine gives us a photo album of Guelph’s story: the variety of events and the people who get out to participate in our community. Every June we go out for supper together to tell the stories of people and businesses which contribute to the excellence of living in Guelph. You never leave the Guelph Awards of Excellence without lasting stories of what is possible when people set out to accomplish something together.
The GAE partnership has been around for many years, and includes the Mayor’s awards, the United Way campaign of the year, downtown volunteer of the year, the architecture heritage awards, the innovation award, and the business awards. It is also a mid-year checkup, before people go away for summer vacations. Kind of like a graduation ceremony or a wedding banquet.
The Guelph business community always has some amazing tales to tell. This year we had 28 contributions from which to choose the best 12, with three in each of four categories. The categories come from the mission statement of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce. They cover community building, business innovation, customer service, and environmental stewardship. Each year it gets harder to choose from within these categories, and this year it was almost impossible.
The community has had lots to vote on this year, with one vote coming in October for our provincial representative. Having a collective voice is a big part of being Canadian, and also drives all the activities of Chambers of Commerce here and around the world. Our selection committee had to come back to the table several times before putting nominees out to the 2,800 voters in 850 businesses that are members of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce. All of the submissions are being added to Guelph’s stories of sustainability at www.sustainabilityguelph.ca. You can log on and enter your story as well to share your knowledge and promote your business at the same time. Our categories of sustainability are social and cultural, economic, and environmental. It was interesting to see the matchup between awards of excellence and sustainability. The two do go hand in hand.
This year we get together on June 23rd. To reserve your seat please click here.
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