Businesses feted at MJBEX awards

Moose Javians gathered Wednesday night at the Heritage Inn to celebrate and acknowledge the achievements of local business at the eighth annual Moose Jaw Business Excellence Awards (MJBEX).
Brian Martynook, executive director for the Moose Jaw and District Chamber of Commerce, which put on the event, said the MJBEX awards are a way to showcase the success of Moose Jaw's businesses and to give them a pat on the back for the high quality work accomplished this past year.
In the MJBEX program, Darryl Pisio's president's message stated, "building a positive business climate involves recognizing and encouraging excellence. This is why these awards were formed."
This statement was echoed at the celebration as each individual business and its workers offered its support and encouragement to those being honoured.
Martynook said this years finalists were selected from a group of 48 submitted nominations.
A business could either nominate itself or be nominated by an outside party. The submissions were then given to a selected committee for consideration.
Martynook said the nomination application is an important part of the committee's decision.
"Just a tip for those nominees next year, take the time to do a good job on the (application). It really can make all the difference."
He said this year's selection process was more difficult than ever.
"We really had a hard time narrowing down the finalists. We eventually did, a bit, but we still ended up with five businesses in the (young entrepreneur) category when we usually have three. This is a good sign."
He said seeing so much success flourish in Moose Jaw's Business community is a good thing. It is one indication businesses are succeeding and seeing success.
After all the awards were handed out and the tables began to clear, Martynook said he felt the night went quite well.
He said there was a great turnout and people seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Although he was unsure of an exact count, he said about 340 people were in attendance.

Lyndsay McCready can be reached
at 691-1256.