Leslie Turk

Chamber announcing Innovation Award winners at Monday banquet

by Leslie Turk

The Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce will announce the winners of its inaugural Acadiana Innovation Awards at Monday’s annual banquet. In October the organization began accepting nominations and will announce a winner from the following two public sector finalists: Lafayette Entertainment Initiative and United Way of Acadiana’s Multi-Tenant Center. A private sector winner will be chosen from four finalists: Dupre Logistics’ Driver Predictive Analytics, Mother of Eden’s FuzziBunz Cloth Diapers, NSI Upstream’s Oil Field Commander, and Hole Pluggers/Thomas Parker’s Tiger Bullets. For more information on the finalists, visit the chamber's Web site.

The chamber says its awards are designed “to educate, celebrate and inspire the people of Acadiana to create the transformational changes found in an economically and culturally thriving community.” Criteria for the award was established by a special Innovation Committee Task Force headed by Chris Allain of Vidox and Nanette Heggie of Investment Partners of Acadiana, both also members of the chamber’s 2009 board of directors. Applicants must reside or work in the Acadiana area, and chamber membership was not a requirement. Judges focused on results and creativity of the innovation.

Applicants were encouraged to include pictures, videos, etc. that were reviewed by the judging committee, made up of six other members of the board from all industry types. Out of the 16 applicants, six were selected as finalists.

The chamber’s annual banquet is from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday at the Cajundome Convention Center. USA Today President and Publisher David Hunke will deliver the keynote address: USA Today is owned by newspaper giant Gannett, parent company of The Daily Advertiser and Daily World in Opelousas. For more info about the award, contact Carley Ste. Marie, by email at [email protected] or at 408-3655.