Forty five individuals, community groups, and businesses will be recognized at the Cochrane Community Awards.

The annual celebration recognizes those that stand out for their leadership, organization, and bringing a whole lot of community to the Town of Cochrane.

Valerie McCracken says the awards are a great premise for a community group to celebrate people and all the wonderful things that go on in Cochrane.

“It has been around for awhile but we still find that we’re growing every year and this year we are so excited that we have had the most nominations that we have ever had.”

Thirteen awards will be given out in total from a variety of categories including Community Builder, Citizen of the Year, and News Maker of the Year. McCracken adds that for the past four or five years the awards have added in new categories depending on what is going on in the community and what deserves to be celebrated.

“This year we have added the equity/ inclusion champion of the year. And again it is something that we really feel we’re seeing people in Cochrane be champions of equity and inclusiveness in our community. Realizing that this is something that we wanted to add to our celebration.”

This year a new format has been added to decide the winners. In the past a diverse community board has been responsible for not only organizing the event but deciding who best exemplifies certain categories. McCracken shares that this year they wanted to broaden the review committee.

“We invited some recipients from past years. So people in organizations that have received awards that understood and recognized how important these awards are to the individuals and those that receive them and interested in participating in the review process.”

The Cochrane Community Awards will be held on the afternoon of May 29, at the Cochrane RancheHouse.

For a list of 2016 nominees you will find it here.