It’s the Oscars for water nerds
Corinne Lynds
VP, Content & Partnerships | Helping B2B Organizations Share Critical Stories to Promote Water, Infrastructure and the Environment
Last spring, leading up to the Water Canada Awards I was compulsively rewriting my host script for the 38th time, when my husband asked: “What’s the big deal about these awards anyway?”
Instead of flying off the handle in a tirade of why the awards are a big deal, I simply flipped to page one of my script and smugly read allowed: “Water Canada Awards recognize people, projects, and technologies that demonstrate a strong commitment to improving the quality of the Canadian water sector.”
He looked thoughtful for a moment, then he said: “It sounds important, but boring.”
This is not what you want to hear two days before you step on stage to host a national awards program. I thought to myself, what does he know? He’s not a water professional. He doesn’t understand the importance of the work that we’ll be celebrating. A couple days later, we went on to host an amazing event celebrating inspiring people, projects and technology. Robert Haller hosted his infamous after party, complete with vinyl, and no one complained of being bored!
But, my husband's words stayed with me. I thought about all the times over the years I had covered industry awards as a journalist. I didn’t really know any of the nominees and it was a lot of rubber chicken and strangers patting each other on the back. And admittedly I remember checking the program frequently to see how many more categories there were before dessert. Compare that experience to the few precious times when I was actually nominated for an award myself. I sat on pins and needles pretending it was no big deal, but inside, I was desperately trying to remember the spontaneous thank you speech I had spent a week memorizing.
Awards are exciting or boring based on how they relate to you. If you’re there to support friends and colleagues that inspire you, you’re in the sweet spot. Excited, but not too excited or nervous to actually enjoy yourself, or dessert for that matter!
So this year, in the spirit of making sure no one is bored, and sticking to our corporate value of having fun, Water Canada and the Actual Media Inc. event teams are taking a risk and changing things up in 3 big ways:
It’s going to be the Oscars for water nerds. The who's who of wastewater, stormwater, drinking water, and conservation in Canada. But the absolute best part is that we get to celebrate the amazing community that these awards bring together. These are after all the only national awards in Canada that are not affiliated with one association or another. Instead, we are like the water itself, connected to everyone (see what I did there?).
So, we’ve built this thing, now the question is, will industry show up to support us? I’ve got a pretty good feeling they will. Our judging panel (see list at the bottom) is already hard at work reviewing the record number of submissions, and we’ll be announcing finalists at the end of April.?
领英推荐
I recently put this challenge to them, and I will ask you the same question: what was your favourite moment at a past Water Canada Awards?
I’ll share mine first: Last year when Elsayed Elbeshbishy got up on stage and received the award for Emerging Leader on behalf of Farokh Kakar. PhD. PMP? …. His words to describe Farokh were the kindest and most sincere I’ve ever heard. If I ever win an award, I’m going to ask Elsayed to receive it on my behalf.?
And don’t worry, Robert Haller and Todd Latham will be there, so there’s bound to be an after party!
If you haven't registered already, you can do so here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/water-canada-awards-show-2024-tickets-730763101107?aff=oddtdtcreator
or,
If you're interested in supporting the Water Canada awards as a sponsor, reach out to my colleague Vanessa Watson
A huge thank you to our Water Canada Awards Judges: Robert Haller Linda Li, P.Eng., MASc Stephen Braun Gregary Ford Emily Stahl Ranin Nseir, M.Eng., P.Eng Michael Lywood Jonathan Grant Melissa Dick Eric Meliton Terry Rees
And big kudos to our event team Sarah Wensley and Min Do who really know how to throw a party!
VP, Content & Partnerships | Helping B2B Organizations Share Critical Stories to Promote Water, Infrastructure and the Environment
11 个月Gregary Ford can I guess your favourite moment? ??
Top 25 Canadian Immigrant, Amethyst Award Winner, Innovative Thought Leader & Trusted Advisor, Strategic Partnership Builder, Solutions Provider, Catalyst, Collaborator, Dreamer, Doer, Mentor, Volunteer, Advocate for EDI
11 个月I wish we have/ or create alumni for award winners Corinne Lynds so we can multiply our collective contributions to #Water sector together with all past/ future award recipients. I missed in person experience of receiving the award due to covid, but always enjoyed this amazing conference and downstream event. However, My day starts with looking at the pin - next to my laptop which inspires me every day.
Manager, Sustainability Office at Wilfrid Laurier University
11 个月I remember my first Water Canada awards where I was a nominee for the Government Leader category in 2015 in Vancouver. Not only was this my first ever trip to BC, but I was up against a great industry proponent, Barry Orr. I didn't win in my one and only time being nominated, but I got to listen to Barry's inspiring speech, which was read off of a roll of toilet paper. It was the beginning of many years supporting the Water Canada Awards.
Executive Director at Canadian Water and Wastewater Association
11 个月These Awards really are a big deal. I know that the nominees are all so sincere and they are genuinely proud to win these awards. The Awards have recognized legendary lifetime heroes and young inspirers. The Awards recognize innovative creators as well as the brave early adopters. My favourite part is the pure emotion of the winners - so excited, yet so humbled to be honoured.