The Award of Merit is presented each year during the Chamber Banquet with guidelines for the award developed by the Chamber Board of Directors in 1982. Recipients must meet the following requirements to qualify for this prestigious award.

The award is given to the person who through the years, has given time, effort, resources to the Chamber (first) and the community.
The person may be employed by a current Chamber member, retired from a Chamber member, or have worked for a Chamber member during their time of service with the Chamber.
This person must not have been a Chamber Board Member prior to the year they receive the award.
Length of service to the Chamber is a major and primary factor.
Not just one single event should be used to determine if person is qualified or not.
The award will be presented by the previous years’ winner at the banquet.
Although not included in the guidelines specifically, none of the individuals receiving the award in the past were supposed to know about their selection before the announcement at the Chamber banquet.  There have been a couple of times when recipients found out beforehand – but the Chamber would like to keep that tradition if at all possible.

Past Selection process

For the first 21 years, the Executive Committee of the Chamber Board served as the selection committee.  The board then appointed a committee of 3-6 Award of Merit winners and Chamber staff as the selection committee.  In 2006, the Board made the determination that all past recipients, and Chamber staff, should be included in the selection process.

Where do the names on the list come from

A continuous list of people who have been nominated for the award is kept with the President of the Chamber.  Each year's Selection Committee has had the authority to alter the list, with additions and/or deletions.

AWARD OF MERIT RECIPIENTS