Awards of Excellence Program
The EDA Annual Awards of Excellence Program recognizes the province’s best economic development marketing materials, programs, partnerships and professionals that have made significant contributions to the profession. The Economic Developers Alberta Awards of Excellence are open to all EDA members in good standing.
Click here to read important timelines and fees.
Better Than Ever
We have made improvements to our awards program making it an even better opportunity for you to celebrate your accomplishments and share your best practices.
Click on the photo of EDA Board Member and Awards Chair, Pat Nicol to see a video of her explaining the changes.
Those changes are also outlined in the application forms below.
Award Categories
The following awards are presented at EDA's 2020 Annual Conference during the Minister's Dinner and Awards Banquet.
Please click on the links to read about the award criteria and to submit your entry online.
Community Awards
Recognize outstanding work from economic developers across Alberta and showcase best practices in economic development projects and promotions. By their nature, economic development projects include a mix of marketing, communications and promotion.
We're making the application process easier!
The categories:
- Business Retention & Expansion (BRE)
- Business & Investment Attraction (BIA)
- Community Economic Development (CED)
In each category there are groups based on community population. There is an award for each group, making a total of three awards in each category:
- Small community/region
- Medium community/region
- Large community/region
Economic Developer of the Year
Presented to an outstanding professional practicing in the province of Alberta. Any member in good standing of Economic Developers Alberta is eligible.
Outstanding Young Professional
Awarded to a member less than 35 years of age who has demonstrated notable accomplishments to date and shows great future potential.
Alex Metcalfe- Best of Show
In honour of Alex Metcalfe, one of the founding members of EDA and first President in 1974, this award is judged from the overall community award winners in the categories of BRE, BIA & CED, with one (1) best of show candidate chosen.
Pitch It!
Ten (10) randomly selected entries from the Community Awards submissions will be given the opportunity to pitch their project to EDA peers and industry colleagues. Be prepared to provide a 5 minute presentation during the conference.
People’s Choice Award
Chosen by peers and colleagues throughout the conference, this award is judged from all the Community Award of Excellence submissions and chosen based on their exemplary work in economic development in Alberta over the past year.
President's Award
Recognizes an individual or organization that has made a substantial contribution of time and talent to Economic Developers Alberta in the past year. This award is chosen by EDA's President.