Citizen Staff Writer
By OSCAR ABEYTA
Citizen Business Writer
Nominations are being accepted for this year’s Copper Cactus and Small Business Leader of the Year awards, which honor achievements and innovations in the small-business world.
The awards, sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank and the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, will be presented Sept. 20 at the Westin La Paloma resort.
The Small Business Leader of the Year recognizes one small-business person in Tucson as outstanding in his or her field.
Previous winners include Robert Schlesinger of Bookman’s Used Books, Joe Cristiani, Don Martin of Competitive Engineering Inc. and Keith McLeod of Business Centre.
The Small Business Leader award has been presented by the chamber since 1988.
This is the first time the award will be given in conjunction with the Copper Cactus awards.
“We partnered with them (Wells Fargo) this year to make it even bigger,” said Tracey Granise, a chamber spokeswoman.
Now in their fourth year, the Copper Cactus awards recognize achievement in three areas: business growth, best place to work and community service.
Winners in those areas are divided into four divisions, depending on how many employees they have, for a total of 12 awards.
Last year’s winners for business growth were Sage Landscape, Chivalry Sports Inc., Sonora Behavioral Health Hospital and Brake Masters.
Gordley Design Group, Chestnut Construction, Reproductions and Apex Microtechnology were given Copper Cactus awards last year as the best places to work.
Sav-On Flowers, The Copier Brothers, Picor, Petty Products and Bookman’s were honored for their community service. (Petty and Bookman’s tied for the award.)
Applications to nominate businesses for both awards are available through direct mail, chamber members and online at marathonmarketinginc.com or by calling 792-5409.
Advertisements will appear in area newspapers. The deadline for nominations is July 5.