MINTO – Two Town of Minto projects have been recognized as finalists in the annual Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO) Awards of Excellence program – marking Minto’s third year as a finalist.
The awards recognize innovative, collaborative and distinctive work that economic development teams are doing across the province of Ontario, officials say.
Twenty-Two finalists were announced on Dec. 12 for nine EDCO award categories, including general and leadership awards.
Minto’s two nominated projects are: “Homegrown: a gathering of female-identifying rural entrepreneurs,” and “Move to Minto.”
The Homegrown project qualified for the excellence in rural economic development and rural business attraction and retention category, while Move to Minto also qualified for the latter.
“They both just happened to fall under those [categories] and we had two strong projects, so we thought ‘why not?’” director of economic development Belinda Wick-Graham told the Advertiser.
Wick-Graham is currently serving as president of EDCO, which provides leadership to help municipalities foster “economic prosperity, support sustainability and strengthen member capacity,” stated EDCO officials.
Decision time
“They have a panel of judges that come together and score all the applications, and then they meet to discuss them,” explained Wick-Graham.
A panel of professionals from the fields of economic development, marketing, advertising, and tourism judge the award entries.
“The judges were saying that this year, the calibre of applications was really good and the best they’ve seen in several years,” said Wick-Graham.
“So to be a finalist against so many other communities, and then to have two of our projects be finalists, it’s pretty exciting.”
Winners are to be announced at the EDCO Conference and Showcase Presidents Dinner and Awards Gala from Feb. 4 to 6, in Toronto.
Minto has won EDCO awards in the past.
“In 2018 we won for local collaboration and partnership for our Cool Cones Crawl (public art project),” she said.
Other awarded projects include: “Move to Minto” in 2022 and “Harriston … We’re Diggin’ It” in 2015.
In October the town was also awarded two Marketing Canada Awards from the Economic Developers Association of Canada.
“You never know when you submit projects and we typically don’t submit things (projects) unless we’re really confident,” Wick-Graham said.
Last year town staff didn’t submit an application, although “a lot” of projects were completed throughout 2023.
“We’re looking forward to seeing what happens, and just really proud of our team that worked on the projects,” stated Wick-Graham.
