The Platinum Award winners have been announced.
People gathered in La Perla ballroom at River Market on Thursday night to honour people and companies making a difference in the community.
“The room was full, the energy was high and there was lots of happy and lots of tears. It was great,” said Cori Lynn Germiquet, executive director of the New Westminster Chamber of Commerce, organizers of the annual event.
This was the second year of the hybrid awards night, which combined two previous events – one to recognize the arts community and another to recognize the business community. The blending of the two events has been well received within the New Westminster community and this year was another great success, Germiquet said.
“It was a tremendous success. We’ve been frequently asking members of the business community because we took a chance in merging the two awards together last year … and (Thursday) night was the second year the Platinum Awards were presented and by all indications it’s just growing,” she said.
As the awards continue to grow the chamber of commerce has been diligent in reviewing the event to ensure it recognizes the key businesses in the city as well as the key people. The inclusion of the Junior Citizen of the Year award is one of the important ways in which the awards have grown, Germiquet said.
“They’re our future so we need to do something to celebrate our juniors’ contributions to our city,” she said.
This year, Keila Stark was honoured with the Junior Citizen of the Year award. She was one of three students nominated by staff at New Westminster Secondary School.
But the most anticipated award of the night was the Citizen of the Year award. The chamber changed the requirements of the category and allowed for non-citizens of New Westminster to be nominated and potentially win the coveted award. This decision sparked quite the uproar from the community but in the end it didn’t matter. New Westminster’s own Patrick Johnstone – a self-proclaimed rabble-rouser and pundit – took home the award.
Some of the other top winners included Sapperton’s Thrifty Foods for Community Spirit, the Union Gospel Mission and Lower Mainland Purpose Society for the Not for Profit awards, and Katherine Freund Hainsworth for the Bernie Legge Cultural Award.
Unlike past years, this year’s Platinum Awards had no ties, but Germiquet said there were a few close races.
“There was a lot of times where we certainly had to go back and recount all the tallies because we wanted to make sure we had it right,” she said.
Below is a complete list of the 2013 Platinum Award winners:
New small business 2013 – Sponsored by Scotia Bank
Michael and Lindsay Kaisaris – Re Up BBQ
New medium business 2013 – Sponsored by Scotia Bank
Dan Close – Spud Shack Fry Co.
Small business 2013 – Sponsored by McQuarrie Hunter LLP
Sheila Comer – Pink Ribbon Bakery
Medium business 2013 – Sponsored by McQuarrie Hunter LLP
Dr. Amin Damji – Artis Dental Centre
Large business 2013 – Sponsored by McQuarrie Hunter LLP
Starlight Casino
Citizen of the Year 2013 – Sponsored by TD Bank
Patrick Johnstone
Junior Citizen of the Year – Sponsored by Thrifty Foods
Keila Stark
Bernie Legge Cultural Award 2013 – Sponsored by BC Business
Katherine Freund Hainsworth
Marketers of the Year 2013 – Sponsored by Inn at the Quay
Tej Kainth – Tourism New West
Douglas College
New Westminster NewsLeader
Corporate Diversity 2013 – Sponsored by New West WINS
Offie Lastimoza – Orion Health
Community Spirit Award 2013 – Sponsored by Loren Nancke and Company
Thrifty Foods
Not for Profit Award 2013 – under $1 million – Sponsored by Starlight Casino
Union Gospel Mission
Not for Profit Award 2013 – over $1 million -– Sponsored by Starlight Casino
Lower Mainland Purpose Society
Customer Service Business 2013 – Sponsored by B.C. Lottery Corporation
Family Eyecare
Customer Service Individual 2013 – Sponsored by B.C. Lottery Corporation
Franchine Couchard – The Pantry
