Halifax Chamber Announces Awards Finalists, Plans To Host In-Person Event
HALIFAX — The Halifax Chamber of Commerce has announced the finalists for its 21st annual Halifax Business Awards, which be awarded at an in-person event early next year.
The 35 finalists for this year’s awards fall into seven categories and were chosen by a panel of judges from the “hundreds” of nominees.
Chamber president Patrick Sullivan says this year’s expanded awards recognize the hard work and resiliency of the city’s business community.
“This event gives us all a chance to recognize local business leaders and risk-takers, and this year they definitely deserve an opportunity to celebrate,” he says.
This year’s awards feature nominees in seven categories, including the newly created not-for-profit of the year award.
Sullivan says the chamber expanded its awards to cover not-for-profit organizations because more than 220 of its members fall into that category.
“Not-for-profits, all of them have staff, they have budgets to make, they have compensation to pay, and of course they provide a wonderful service in our community,” he says.
“They’re run, in many cases, with boards of directors, as businesses, and they seek support from the chamber of commerce,” he adds, so in a lot of ways, it makes complete sense to recognize them too.
The chamber will announce this year’s winners for all the awards at a ceremony at the Halifax Convention Centre on January 28.
Sullivan says while the chamber can’t be 100 percent sure what January will look like in terms of Covid-19, he believes they should be able to safely hold the awards in person.
“We don’t quite know where we’ll end up in January, but we know we can put 200 people in a room, physically distant,” he says. “We believe there’s an opportunity to bring more Haligonians together to celebrate these organizations, but of course we would only do that safely and with approval.”
The chamber will also stream the awards online for anyone who chooses not to attend in person.
Below is a list of all 35 finalists, broken down by award category. More information on the awards is available here.
NEW BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
Bloxo Inc.
Little Eden Bakery & Café
Premier Accounting & Tax Inc
Verge Technologies Inc
Purple Cow Internet
SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
Cyclesmith
Solid State Pharma Inc.
BeResponsive Media
The Rounds
RHAD Architects
EXPORT BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
Admiral Insurance
CGI
Beaumont Exhibits
b4checkin
First Catch Fisheries
NOT-FOR-PROFIT OF THE YEAR
Easter Seals Nova Scotia
United Way Halifax
Solutions for Kids in Pain
Adsum Association for Women & Children
Feed Nova Scotia
INNOVATIVE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
Oberland Agriscience Inc.
Silverback Productions
Eadie Technologies Inc.
Enginuity Inc
Nxtgen Care
BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
Spirit Spa
REDspace Inc.
Storm Insurance Group
IRON DOG Inc.
The Old Triangle Irish Alehouse
BUSINESS LEADER OF THE YEAR
Tanya Sieliakus – HR Pros Inc.
Tisha Parker Kemp – shiftED Academy Inc.
Lorelei Burgess – Oxford Learning
Matt Symes – Symplicity Designs
Mathew Benvie – Evolve Fitness Ltd.