Shot in the arm for city

THIS IS the 16th year of Premier Regional Business Awards, an initiative designed to inject positive news about the Dandenong region across Victoria.
Awards committee member John D’Angelo, of National Australia Bank, said a group of prominent business people in conjunction with respected local journalist John Wood met in 1990 to discuss ways of generating positive news reports for Dandenong.
Those people were the then-mayor of Dandenong, Ian McDonald, and businessmen Stephen Giles, John Marsh and Hans Rubens.
“They thought they would run an awards program and talk about the successes of businesses in the region,” Mr D’Angelo said.
“It just evolved from there, and they ran it the first three or four years until the mid-90s when it went under the banner of the chamber of commerce.”
Mr D’Angelo has been involved with the past six awards ceremonies.
He said the tried and true format had not changed and, as a result, the awards had become a consistent part of the Greater Dandenong business landscape.
The chamber accepts nominations from businesses, the City of Greater Dandenong’s Economic Development Unit and sponsors.
Potential nominees are contacted, visited by awards committee members, and a full and detailed profile of the company’s past, present and future ambitions is compiled.
Awards committee members also narrow down the categories that each nominee will run for.
Three nominees are announced at each of the five awards breakfasts before the winners are announced at the gala event.
An independent panel of judges visits all nominees and rates them based on their nominated categories, with one winner selected for each category, and an overall winner selected for the Premier Regional Business Award.
This year’s judging panel is comprised of South East Networks manager Sandra George, Dandenong manufacturer Doug Maxwell, former Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development representative Phil Allen and South East Development representative Charles Wilkins.