BOYA celebrate local businesses

“We want to celebrate the achievements of local businesses,” proclaims executive director of the Bonnyville & District Chamber of Commerce, Andrea Yaramie. Once a year the Cold Lake & Bonnyville Chambers team up to host the Business of the Year Awards (BOYA), which award local businesses in both communities.

There are five categories awarded, each user-nominated:

• Most Promising New Business
• Outstanding Small Business
• Outstanding Large Business
• Outstanding Not-for-Profit
• Community Involvement (Shared Award Bonnyville & Cold Lake)

“Very simply you can go on our website, bonnyvillechamber.com, and there’s a link that’ll lead you to the nomination form,” Yaramie says anyone from the community can nominate a business for the awards.”You can drop it off [at either chamber], scan it & email us, or mail it; whatever is easiest for you.” Yaramie adds to make it even easier they also take phone submissions, “if you want to make it really simple, you can call our office and dictate it to us and we’ll fill it out for you.”

The form asks three questions: What Business & Category? Why You’re Nominating? Who Nominated?

From there the nominees are notified, “we’ll contact the businesses and not-for-profits that are nominated and they’ll have the opportunity to accept or deny the nomination. Then we have information that we require the businesses or not-for-profits to provide for us and that goes to a panel of three judges.” Yaramie says the judges are a mix of members of the business community, chamber, and past winners.; most importantly they are impartial. “They have a set criteria and they use that to grade each category.”

The deadline to nominate is August 15th.

Bonnyville Nomination Form

Cold Lake Nomination Form

The winners are announced at a gala event, on October 15th at the Centennial Centre. Tickets for the event are on sale now.