Spotlight Award Nominations Accepted Now through July 31

OAK PARK, IL - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

The Oak Park - River Forest Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce it is seeking nominations for its 2nd Annual Business Spotlight Awards through July 31^st, 2017.

This exciting “Oscars Of Local Business” event was created to recognize excellence in local businesses.  Awards are presented in the following categories:
- Community Character
- Customer Experience
- Green/Sustainability
- Innovation/Collaboration
- Integrated Marketing
- Investment/Development

These awards are not a “best of” popularity contest, instead, the categories and the winners reflect community values and success factors important to running a successful local company. It is a celebration of businesses doing things right.

Nominees do not have to be members of the OPRF Chamber to be eligible and the program is open to all businesses – large or small, profit or non-profit - located in Oak Park, River Forest and surrounding communities, including Forest Park, Austin, and others.

The six category winners will receive recognition, media exposure and bragging rights, as well as a one-year free membership to the OPRF Chamber.

Response to the program in its inaugural year was overwhelming, with 120 businesses receiving a total of over 380 nominations in the various categories!

Kristen Vogen, the President & CEO of The Oak Park River Forest Community Foundation, winner of the 2016 Investment/Development Spotlight Award, said about winning the award, “We believe we are continually developing ways to add value to the community and invest in the fabric of our community; external confirmation through the Chamber’s 2016 Spotlight Award for Investment/Development was a delight!!  The Spotlight Awards bring our community together to highlight businesses and nonprofits that create the atmosphere in which we all intentionally choose to live.  Thanks to the Oak Park – River Forest Chamber of Commerce for placing the spotlight on community success!!”

Anne Pezalla, one half of the owners at Oak Park’s Lively Athletics, winner of the 2016 Integrated Marketing Spotlight Award, shared, “Winning the 2016 Spotlight Award for Integrated Marketing was huge for our store, Lively Athletics. We were still relatively new at the time and approached our marketing with a sense of adventure and fun. Apparently, people liked our decision to Photoshop short running shorts on a life-size Frank Lloyd Wright, or post personal behind-the-scenes peeks of our business on social media. We were thrilled to win. It reminded us of the fun of running our business and gave us credibility in the business community. It also gave us the opportunity to publicly and profoundly thank our customers for their support and their nominations. The Chamber also does a great job of promoting nominees and winners, which helped us expand our reach to new customers. We were also excited to get a free year-long membership to the Chamber. We were already members and planned to re-up our membership no matter what, but it's always nice to get a perk like that.”

The Chamber is calling for nominations through July 31st. Residents can nominate a business on the Chamber website, the form is quick – requiring name of the business and brief info on why the business stands out in one of the six categories.

All businesses and organizations nominated for a Spotlight Award will be notified early August and will need to accept the nomination by providing more information about their work. Winners will be selected by Chamber committee and announced at the Spotlight Awards event on Tuesday, October 10^th at The 19^th Century Club. 

To nominate a business or organization, and for more detailed information about each category, visit www.oprfchamber.org/spotlight-awards .

The Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce is member organization proud to serve businesses in Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park and the surrounding areas, since its founding in 1905. The Chamber provides leadership, information, events, workshops and opportunities for networking and relationship building. We are passionate about our community and all it offers – and committed to helping our businesses and organizations find what they need to thrive.