By Mark Squibb/March 10, 2023
Members of the Mount Pearl and Paradise business community were decked out in their finest last Thursday night for the annual Best in Business Awards ceremony, hosted by the Mount Pearl - Paradise Chamber of Commerce at the Double Ice Complex in Paradise.
About 25 Chamber businesses were in the running for nine different awards, with many businesses receiving multiple nominations.
The first award of the night, the Innovation award, went to Pardy’s Waste Management. The Mount Pearl industrial service business has been operating since 1985. Steve Moores, Pardy’s general manager, accepted the award.
“Pardy’s has humble beginnings, but we’ve grown so much because of the increasing demand for responsible and sustainable waste management,” said Moores. “Our success can be largely attributed to the determination of our visionary founder, and owner, Mr. Derrick Pardy.”
Moores thanked the other nominees for the contributions they make to their communities, and for the Chamber for the support it provides businesses.
The next award was for Entrepreneur of the Year, which went to Roger Maunder of Up Sky Down Films. The company services the metro region based out of their St. John’s office.
“This is really unexpected,” said Maunder, who joked that he’s usually the one behind a camera, not in front of them. He complimented the business people present on sticking it out for the last number of years.
Maunder’s company was the one to put together the nominee video clips that played before each award presentation.
The next award of the night, the New Business of the Year award, went to Premier Sports Academy. The Paradise based business first opened its doors in 2020.
Ryan Sweeny, the company’s president, accepted the award, and thanked the Chamber, fellow businesses, the community, and co-founder Noah Anderson.
“We were a pretty new idea when we started Premiere Sports,” said Sweeney. “It took some time for people to believe in what we were doing. But the success we’ve had over the last couple of years with our athletes is really starting to show, and I feel like we’re just getting started.”
Next, the Chamber presented the Local Impact Award for Mount Pearl, which went to MUNN Insurance.
For a number of years, the company has raised money during the Christmas season, and last year donated over $50,000 to local charities. Commercial Manager Blair Campbell thanked the Chamber and sponsors for hosting the event, and the business community at large.
“We’re a company that is on the move, that is innovative, and participates in communities,” said Campbell. “We recognise the importance of giving back to communities and making a difference.”
MUNN Insurance operates out of St. John’s, Bay Roberts, Corner Brook, and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
The Local Impact Award for Paradise went to the Carpenter’s Millwright College.
Shawn Skinner, training director, extended thanks to the Chamber and to fellow nominees.
“What we do is very quiet work,” said Skinner. “We don’t promote a lot of the stuff we do. We have a great staff. We do a lot of stuff in this community, in Paradise, in Mount Pearl, in St., Johns, in the greater Avalon area, and we do it because we feel we owe it back.”
The next award of the night, the Business Excellence Award for companies with fewer than 15 employees, went to the Paradise-based youth programming and activity space, Get Messy.
Co-owners Joanne Newman and Jennifer Hiscock accepted the award.
“We are so surprised; this really means a lot to use,” said Newman. “We’ve worked really hard over the past few years. The pandemic really gave us a punch in the belly, but we got back up. Giving back to our community is one of our favorite things to do.”
The Business Excellence Award for companies with more than 15 Employees went to Mount Pearl based digital marketing agency, JAC.
Founder John Atkins accepted the award along with his wife and JAC co-owner Pat Atkins.
The Customer Service Award went to Paradise-based Catalyst Health Solutions. Founder June Tavenor explained the company’s approach to healthcare by way of a parable about a woman walking along a beach and tossing starfish back into the ocean. Though she could not throw every starfish back, the woman made a world of difference to those she was able to throw back.
The final award of the night, the Employee of the Year Award, went to Pam Evans of Easy Safety Training Services.
Evans thanked business owners Scott and Colleen Glynn, along with other colleagues who make her workday brighter.
