This year, the Chamber received 142 nominations from the public. The Nominators were interviewed over the phone using a standardized set of questions, and their responses scored. The Chamber then convened a round-table panel to further discuss the results and select the Finalists.

We would like to give kudos to all the Nominees! We were overwhelmed by the number of wonderful nominations that were submitted. It was difficult to select the Finalists as everyone was deserving of recognition for their hard work and unique contributions to the community. With different categories come different criteria, and Black Tie tradition was honoured throughout to help make the hard selections for the short list of Finalists. Congratulations to all the Finalists!

Each of the nine award categories, which include Customer Service, Volunteer of the Year, Non-Profit Organization, Art in Business, Green Business, Young Entrepreneur, and Business Achievement for 1-5 Employees, 6-19 Employees, and 20+ Employees, has three Finalists. All 27 Finalists have been informed and have enthusiastically accepted the honour.

Over the next month, the Chamber will conduct individual interviews with each of the Finalists. Two Adjudicators will assess each award category; one representing the category sponsor and the other representing the Chamber Board. The Finalist interviews are scored based on established criteria, which are combined with scores from the Nominator interviews. The Finalists from each award category who receive the highest scores will be selected as the winners for their respective categories. A representative from Vancouver Island University audits the scoring and results.

The winners will be announced on the night of the Awards ceremony, which will be held in an Academy Awards style event at the Chemainus Theatre on Tuesday, May 9th. Tickets for the Black Tie Awards 2023 will go on sale soon.