First annual Community Builders Awards will celebrate extraordinary people here in Sault Ste. Marie

Last year, Village Media acquired the assets of Laurentian Publishing Ltd. It was a big move for us, especially as COVID-19 had just impacted the world, but we are glad we did it. As part of this, we took over Sudbury.com as well as Northern Ontario Business, the Northern Ontario Business Awards and the Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal.

We also inherited an awards event previously held in Sudbury called the Community Builders Awards. And we love it. 

As steadfast champions of local, we strive to support and uplift our community and that most certainly includes the innovative, resilient and inspiring people who make our community so special. 

With SooToday’s 20th anniversary just a few months away, we wanted to find a way to celebrate not only the community, but more importantly, the people that make our community great.

The Community Builders Awards does just that.

We are honoured to present this opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding community members who have positively contributed to our city.

Awards of Excellence will honour individuals and organizations in Arts, Economic Development, Education, Environment, Hall of Fame, Health Care, Legacy, Sports and Recreation and Young Leader categories.

A full description of each category can be found here.

All Sault Ste. Marie and area residents, businesses and organizations are eligible for nomination.

The spirit of this awards event was to bring people together in person, spend time with one another, share a meal and celebrate the many exceptional people in our community. Sadly, COVID-19 has impacted this as well, at least for this year. For now, we will celebrate virtually - recognizing each of the winners with a story and a video that honours their accomplishments. It’s a start and hopefully the beginning of what will again become an in-person celebration as soon as we are able.

Nominations are open now through Oct. 7. You can learn more and nominate someone for the Community Builders Awards at www.cbawards.ca.  

A team of 10 local judges will help to evaluate our nominees once nominations close and we plan to start announcing winners on Nov. 29.

We look forward to reading about the remarkable community members who have helped build Sault Ste. Marie.