Nominations now accepted for regional awards ceremony

By David Willberg

A popular event will be happening in the southeast region this spring for the firsttimeinfouryears, and nominations are being accepted throughout the region.

The Southeast Women ofDistinctionAwardswill be handed out on May 10 at the Estevan Exhibition Hall. Women 4 Women will be organizing this year’s event.

Previouslyitwasknown astheQuotaInternational of Estevan Women of Today Awards, which ran from 1999-2019.

Committee members for the Southeast Women of Distinction Awards are Becky Cassidy (event committee chairwoman); Tania Hlohovsky-Andrist (nominations and awards committee chairwoman);BreanneVanDe Woestyne (public relations);MaryAnneVeroba (awards banquet, entertainment and program); Brittany Zahn (nominee announcement celebration); Michelle Erdman (finance); and Tara Daoust and Lori Gervais (guest experience).

“We created a committee with women that are very experienced in event planning from southeast Saskatchewan, that I know are efficient and goal-driven, and then we gave ourselves the name Women 4 Women,” said Cassidy.

Cassidy said they decided to bring the event back because they believe it’s “incredibly important” to celebrate the women of southeast Saskatchewan.

“With the event not happening since 2019, we just decided it was time to bring it back and continue on the tradition that’s been running for so many years,” she said.

Five awards will be handed out. Two of them are the same as the WomenofTodayAwards: Outstanding Contribution to the Workplace and Outstanding ContributiontotheCommunity.

Twoothershonoursare similar.TheIdaPetterson Memorial Award for Out- standing Entrepreneur is now the Innovator Award for Entrepreneurship and Leadership; while the Shirley Orsted Memorial Award for Outstanding Young Woman of Today is now the Outstanding Young Visionary Award.

The new award is the Equity and Inclusion Award, which is for those who are overcoming barriersorthoseinnon-traditional fields.

It’s an open-ended category to include women in non-traditional roles, as well as those who have helped other women, newcomers or people from different cultures and ethnicities.

The deadline to submit anominationisMarch27.

“One thing we really arefocusingonismaking sure everyone from the southeast corner knows they are welcome to be nominated or to nominate somebody, because it’s really important that we receive [regional nominees],” said Cassidy.

They would accept nominations from the Canada-U.S. border to the south, the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border to the east and Highway 13 to the north.

Nomination packages and instructions can be found online at sewomenofdistinction.com.

Nominators are asked to fill out the form and include the necessary information on the candidate.

The nominee needs to sign off on the form.

In a press release, CassidysaidaWomanofDistinction is someone who has made a commitment and a significant difference in their community by showing vision, creativity and initiative.

“They have been a role model and continually inspire others through their leadership. They are innovative and have broken new ground or old barriers and continue to be an agent for change,” she wrote.

A guest speaker, Corliss Rassyle, will present her Be the Best You speech.