Finalists for Delta's 2012 Citizen of the Year Award and five other honours have been announced by the Delta Chamber of Commerce.
Selected by a four-person panel, the business and community leaders come from a wide range of backgrounds.
The finalists will be recognized and a winner in each category announced at the annual Hats Off to Excellence gala, sponsored by Port Metro Vancouver and scheduled for Nov.
16 at the Delta Town & Country Inn.
The list of finalists is as follows:
Citizen of the Year
(Sponsored by the Delta Optimist)
Criteria: Someone who provided extraordinary service to the community of Delta, conducted their life with integrity and who stands out amongst peers.
Finalists: Terry Bremner, Irene Forcier and Mike Guichon.
Volunteer Service Award
(Sponsored by Envision Financial)
Criteria: Delta resident of any age who has volunteered a great deal of time and effort to a Delta organization.
Finalists: Michelle Jones, Matthew Rogers and Jackey Zellweger.
Rising Star Award
(Sponsored by Kwantlen Polytechnic University)
Criteria: Somebody who has owned and operated a Delta business for at least one year and under five years, achieved a certain degree of financial stability through business performance and has achieved success and growth potential, been involved in new economic activities, innovation and community activity.
Finalists: Scott Foran & Barry Hartman, Lydia Ryall and Marcie Weinstein Smith.
Employee Extraordinaire Award
(Sponsored by MK Delta Lands Group)
Criteria: Somebody who gives their all in the workplace, stands out, creating excellence wherever they are, goes beyond the call of duty, in a company or organization in Delta.
Finalists: Juliana Christiansen, Mary Durham and Dinah Suzuki.
Business of the Year
(Sponsored by Delta Cable)
Criteria: A business which has reached a significant new level, established new technology; broken into a new market, or which has integrated sustainability into business objectives, strategies, plans and functions.
Finalists: Augustine House (Tanya Snow), Modern Engineering (Ugo Jahn) and Tsawwassen Collision (Peter Sziklai).
Special Events & Tourism Award
(Sponsored by Ladner Business Association)
Criteria: A Delta-based tourism business or activity that has delivered a quality product or service, contributing to the image, sustainability and professionalism of Delta, and which has demonstrated an effective marketing program and superior ability to successfully satisfy visitor expectations through outstanding service.
Finalists: South Delta Jazz Festival (Stephen Robb), South Delta Artists Guild (Kathy Swift) and The Phoenix, the Fire of Flamenco (Bev Mantaovani).
"Once again we had some very worthy candidates for this year's Hats Off to Excellence Awards, thanks to people in the community who nominated them," said nominations committee chair Les Voros.
"As always, it's a pleasurable task to interview all candidates and a difficult task to narrow the field to three finalists."
