Every July, the Springfield Business Journal staff marks our publication’s birthday and sets apart the date of the first issue, July 22, 1980, with celebration of the Economic Impact Awards. On this July 22, we will publish Volume 34, No. 1, and on the prior Thursday night, July 18, there will be a festive dinner at Ramada Plaza Hotel & Oasis Convention Center.
This event always features crowds of well-dressed people, greetings among old and new friends, birthday cake, champagne, many sparkling crystal awards and applause. But the real highlight of the evening is recognition of the individuals and companies that make the business news of Springfield and southwest Missouri. These professionals and their organizations have for 33 years provided our editors and reporters with more than enough content to fill SBJ’s pages every week.
You will read about the honorees – young companies, middle-aged companies and well-established organizations – in the accompanying pages. Listed in ranking order by category, as you read, you will fully understand why the accomplishments and contributions of Bill Foster of Foster Hospitality Group LLC, Silver Dollar City Attractions and Missouri State University’s Small Business and Technology Development Center are being singled out for special attention. Their endeavors are stellar, and I promise you will be inspired by their stories.
Even more inspiring is greeting the representatives of these companies personally – organizations both big and small – and seeing them walk across the stage. I enjoy hearing a few words from their executives, people you have read about and heard about throughout your career, or perhaps, have just recently popped into the forefront of your attention.
Despite the fact that SBJ’s editors select the people, private companies and nonprofit organizations for stories and features in each weekly issue, it is you, the readers, who submit the names for nomination for awards such as EIA. You can nominate anytime through our website, SBJ.net, or by calling or writing SBJ’s office at 313 Park Central West in downtown Springfield.
When the nomination period closes, we ask each nominee to fill out an application. Honorees are chosen from a panel of five independent judges based on application responses. It is the judges who make the decisions about the honors at the Economic Impact Awards. The judges are volunteers, often honorees from previous years. Please read the short biographies and qualifications of the judges below.
Also, if you would like to be selected as a judge for one of SBJ’s recognition events, please let a staff member know. Be forewarned – it’s a difficult and often time-consuming job, but we’ve been assured that it is rewarding.
Finally, I ask for space in each anniversary issue to repeat my conviction that it is and has been – for the entire 33 years – an honor to be associated with the hardworking and talented people who make up SBJ’s staff and to rub elbows with you – the most successful, well educated and affluent men and women in the southwest Missouri marketplace, SBJ’s advertisers and readers.
Dianne Elizabeth Osis is the founder, president and chairwoman of SBJ Publishing Inc. She may be reached at delizabeth@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]
