The Mpumalanga Excellence Awards (MEAs) – Gert Sibande, is calling for nominations.
The awards seek to serve as a platform for recognising Mpumalanga’s excellence while unearthing young, upcoming talent in business and community development. The Gert Sibande district nominees will be adjudicated in December 2015 at a date and venue still to be confirmed.
In its inaugural year, the MEAs seek to discover, celebrate and honour the talents and dedication of individuals whose work across different fields to uplift communities, build societies, change mentalities and inspire change.
The categories are:
Business excellence: The accolades will go to business professionals or entrepreneurs who have achieved success in their chosen field and demonstrated innovation over the past five years and especially within the past year;
Excellence in agriculture and forestry;
Best emerging commercial farmer;
Best emerging agro-processing farmer;
Excellence in mining;
Mining project of the year;
Sustainable development project of year;
Excellence in tourism and conservation;
Most innovative tourism product;
Most environmentally friendly business;
Best marketed tourism product;
Young entrepreneur: Entrepreneurship is the driving force behind today’s economy. In this day and age of high unemployment it is young entrepreneurs’ innovation, creativity and business acumen that are creating new job opportunities. Young entrepreneurs are today’s employers and the award will honour those young entrepreneurs who are excelling in their respective fields. Candidates will have demonstrated perseverance in the face of adversity and overcoming obstacles while having learnt from those experiences.
Most innovative entrepreneur;
Most ground-breaking entrepreneur;
Best private-public partnership initiative: This will honour partnerships by the private and public sector that have come together to initiate projects with the sole aim to improving the lives of communities. The nominated project needs to be for the sole benefit of the community and need to show sustainability beyond the funding period;
Women in Business: This will honours a distinguished woman who has achieved success in her professional career and dedicated herself to community service. A businesswoman whose success is not in only building her respective businesses, but whose success shines through the lives she has changed and the communities she has built. When the strength and instinct of a woman are focused on the successful running of a business, an ample harvest is to be expected. Nominees in this category run successful businesses that have created wealth and opportunities for the communities they serve;
Excellence in sports: In every corner of Mpumalanga, every afternoon of every day, children are at play on netball and soccer fields. In other parts of the region, children take part in other sporting codes. Mpumalanga plays for the betterment of our communities and in all this. There are individuals who are committed to the upliftment of our people through sports;
Sports administrator of the year;
Sportswoman of the year;
Sportsman of the year;
Best professional team.
Excellence in Media: Without media practitioners, people stay in the dark about what is going on around the world. The media award honours journalists and media practitioners who are dedicated to reporting news that is vital to the development of Mpumalanga communities;
Best presenter (broadcast media);
Best journalist (mainstream print media);
Best journalist (Independent and community newspapers);
Most influential individual (social media);
Best practice: A business has no future if it does not seek to empower its employees, customers and communities it works with. The best practice award seeks to celebrate the companies which are leading the way in sustainable business and transformation as a long term business strategy. The award also aims to inspire all businesses, large and small, to make sustainability the foundation of their corporate mission and brand;
Most transformed business or organisation;
Most enabling for women in business;
Most enabling for small businesses (SMEs);
Excellence in marketing and communications;
Best packaged product;
Best community awareness campaign;
Best marketed company or department;
Mpumalanga Excellence Award: This award will go to one Mpumalanga native who has represented the region across the country or world with excellence, honour and integrity. An individual who has ploughed back into his or her community over their lifetime. The winner in this category is a hero to be celebrated and revered and an example of what is to be a child of the land of the rising sun.
To nominate your favourite category log onto https://www.mpexcellenceawards.co.za/.
The Mpumalanga Excellence Awards are organised by Carnel Trends and Lifestyle, an events, management and training entity based in Mbombela.
