The Surrey Board of Trade is also holding an awards evening next week, with eight of the city's best businesses being recognized at the 14th Annual Surrey Business Excellence Awards on Nov. 15.

The awards, with presenting sponsors Kwantlen Polytechnic University and TD Canada Trust, will feature Simi Sara of CKNW as master of ceremonies. As well, SBoT will pay a special tribute to Sherrold Haddad as he enters retirement.

The finalists in the 1-10 Employee category are Complete Home Design, Dale's Alignment and Brakes and Milestone Events. In the 11-40 Employee

category, the finalists are Frontline Real Estate Services Ltd., Novo Textiles Co. and Reliance Foundry. In the 41+ Employees category, finalists are Aggresive Tube Bending, Keywest Asphalt Ltd. and Norwood Packaging Ltd.

Not-for Profit (under $500,000 Budget) finalists are Child Partnership of Surrey-White Rock, Surrey Christmas Bureau and Surrey Urban Mission, while in the Not-for-Profit (over $500,000 Budget), the finalists are Alexandra Neighbourhood House, Fraser Valley Real Estate Board and PICS.

Up for Business Person of the Year are Barb Forbes (Westmnster Savings Credit Union), Balraj Mann (Polycrete Restorations) and Jason Zanatta (Novo Textiles Co.). In the New Business of the Year category, finalists are All Care Medical Centre, Kitply Industries and The Shops at Morgon Crossing. And last but not least, finalists for the Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award are Michael Cheng of WittyCookie, Julian DeSchutter of The DeSchutter Group and Sukhi Sangha of Sangha's Learning Centre.

The event takes the form of an "Academy Awards" style dinner and is held at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel from 6 to 10 p.m. Tickets can be purchases through businessinsurrey.com or call 604-581-7130.

HATS OFF TO EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Finalists for Delta's Citizen of the Year Award, now in its 61st year, are among finalists announced in all six categories of the Delta Chamber of Commerce's annual Hats Off to Excellence Awards program.

The annual Hats Off to Excellence Gala, sponsored by Port Metro Vancouver, is on the evening of Friday, Nov. 16 at the Delta Town & Country Inn.

The awards honour business and community leaders who are chosen by a panel of judges for being role models and deserving of recognition. The category and nominees are :

Volunteer Service Award (sponsored by Envision Financial) finalists are Michelle Jones, Matthew Rogers and Jackey Zellweger.

Rising Star Award (sponsored by Kwantlen Polytechnic University) finalists are Scott Foran, Barry Hartman, Lydia Ryall and Marcie Weinstein Smith.

Employee Extraordinaire Award (sponsored by MK Delta Lands Group) finalists are Juliana Christiansen, Mary Durham and Dinah Suzuki.

Business of the Year Award (sponsored by Delta Cable) finalists are Augustine House (Tanya Snow), Modern Engineering (Ugo Jahn), and Tsawwassen Collision (Peter Siklai).

Special Events & Tourism Award (sponsored by Ladner Business Association) finalists are South Delta Jazz Festival (Stephen Robb), South Delta Artists Guild (Kathy Swift), and The Phoenix, the Fire of Flamenco (Bev Mantaovani).

Citizen of the Year Award (sponsored by the Delta Optimist) finalists are Terry Bremner, Irene Forcier and Mike Guichon.

Tickets and registration are through deltachamber.ca.

'GIVING BACK AWARD' GOES LOCAL

E.B. Horsman & Son from Surrey has won the first ever Affiliated Distributors North American "Giving Back Award" for its years of commitment to the B.C. Children's Hospital Foundation.

E.B. Horsman & Son, an electrical wholesaler in B.C., started fundraising for the hospital foundation in 1992 and has contributed more than $505,906 so far through a variety of events and initiatives.

The company is one of 153 North American companies with Affiliated Distributors, and announced it was "very pleased" with the honour.

SURREY SCHOOLS ENERGY SMART

BC Hydro has honoured Surrey school district and Kwantlen Polytechnic University for their commitment to energy conservation and efficiency. They are two of 27 winners of the annual Power Smart Leader Awards. These awards are BC Hydro's high level of customer recognition.