The academy Awards of the North.

• Author: Wahamaa, Kimberley

Where does the time go? It has been five years since I started working at Northern Ontario Business, and I have come full circle with our Awards programs. In 2006, we celebrated in Thunder Bay, and now this October we return for the 24th Annual Northern Ontario Business Awards (NOBA). The program rotates across the five major cities across Northern Ontario. It is a full year of planning and logistics to execute the largest annual business Awards program in Northern Ontario.

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Winners are awarded in the following ten categories: The Company of the Year (1-15), Company of the Year (16-50), Company of the Year (51+), Entrepreneur of the Year, Young Entrepreneur of the Year, First Nations Business Award of Excellence, Innovation, Entrepreneurial Community of the Year, the Judge's Choice Award and the Union Gas Essay Scholarship Award. We then choose four judges from across the North. This year's judges are Jeff Elgie, Partner, Lucidia Ltd. of Sault Ste. Marie; Tom Fortin, Director, Ontrak Control Systems of Sudbury; Louise Thomas, Curator, Ahnisnabae Art Gallery, Thunder Bay; and Jennifer Twigg, President of Twiggs Coffee Company in...