MOOSE JAW — Rob Clark has been helping with the Moose Jaw and District Chamber of Commerce’s annual business excellence awards program for years and knows that almost everyone who attends appreciates the event.
“This will be my 10th year and (I’ve) probably had maybe one or two complaints in all that time. Everybody seems to enjoy (the MJBEX),” the chamber CEO said.
“It’s a great evening. You can get dressed up and you can bring your employees along with you and let them know what you think of them at work,” he continued. “It’s a fabulous time. I look forward to it every year.”
The awards program — now in its 22nd year — is a great opportunity for the community to recognize businesses, business owners and hard-working employees, the chamber CEO added.
The Moose Jaw Business Excellence Awards’ annual banquet is set for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16, at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
The evening recognizes businesses in 11 main categories, while The Business of the Year and Business Leader of the Year awards are chosen by independent MJBEX judges. Also, customers select the People's Choice Award winner through an open online poll the week before the awards gala.
The deadline for submitting a nomination is Saturday, March 15 and can be done at mjcc.awardify.io or www.mjchamber.com.
Planning is going well, while organizers are working to acquire some final items such as audio-visual equipment, said Clark. Meanwhile, the chamber has received about 50 nominations, and in the coming days, it will push hard to acquire more submissions.
Clark thought it was “absolutely fabulous” that the MJBEX had been running for 22 years, while it was also great that the chamber continued to receive nominations for different businesses and added or changed categories every few years.
One award category that usually receives the most submissions is Service Excellence, which was previously titled customer service, while the Impact Award category is popular with smaller businesses and non-profits, he noted.
“We’ve always had about 400 people there (at the awards banquet), and we’ve always filled out most of our categories,” Clark said. “Some of our categories, we need to actually shorten them up a wee bit because sometimes we’ll have 10 or 11 (submissions and) … we like to have five finalists.
“So it’s … been fun, and it's great to put this on and see the businesses all smiling and happy,” the chamber CEO added. “… I just think it’s a win-win for the city, for the community (and) for the businesses.”
Tickets for the Moose Jaw Business Excellence Awards banquet go on sale in March.
