It's that time of year when The Cochrane Eagle and our readers celebrate the best of the local business community.
Every August, we kick off the Readers' Choice Awards, an annual contest that allows Cochranites to nominate and then vote on which businesses in town they feel deserve special recognition.
This year's contest includes a two-stage format. First is the nomination stage, when readers are asked to nominate up to one business per day, per category. Nominations started Aug. 11 and will end on Aug. 25, so if you're reading this on the paper's publication day, you may still have a few hours left to nominate a last-minute business.
After nominations have wrapped up, voting starts Sept. 1 and will last until Sept. 15. This is the time readers can select their favourite of the top five nominees in each category.
The winners will then be announced in print in our Oct. 6 issue.
Like with any contest, there are a few rules to abide by. Participants must be at least 18 years old, only one ballot is allowed (per person, per category, per day), and voters must fill out a minimum of at least 50 per cent of questions to qualify for a random draw.
Make no mistake, winning a Readers' Choice Award is a big deal for Cochrane's business owners and entrepreneurs. It not only recognizes the effort they are putting into their business week in, week out, but it also promotes their accomplishments, highlights their successes, and confirms their importance to the community.
Once the winners are determined, we hope you learn a little more about a new local business you may have not heard of before. Perhaps you'll discover a new storefront to frequent, and a new business-customer relationship will form.
We would encourage The Eagle readers and the greater Cochrane community to participate in our annual business awards, whether it's by nominating a business, voting for a winner, or even just helping promote the contest.
