FROM PRIDE NIAGARA:
Pride Niagara announces the new Niagara Unity Awards
Pride Niagara is happy to announce a new event, the Niagara Unity Awards, to their Pride Week lineup which showcases the important successes of individuals and groups that have made an impact for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community here in the Niagara Region. These awards include the annual Ed Eldred award given out by Pride Niagara over the past three years along with nine new awards established to highlight achievements from the LGBT and LGBT-friendly community.
Pride Niagara will launch a month long nomination process starting March 1, 2014 via an online link found at www.prideniagara.com. On this link, anyone can participate by filling out their nominations for each individual category for who should be nominated for each award category and can explain their nominations. In April, Pride Niagara will announce the top five nominations for each category on their website and participants can then vote for their favourites.
The awards include:The Ed Eldred Award
Ed Eldred was one of Niagara’s loved community activists. In honour of his life’s achievements this award is presented to a person who has worked hard to unite the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community and raise public & professional LGBT awareness in the Niagara community. Previous winners include: Nadine Wallace from Niagara Pride Support Services, Tom Balint from CAW Local 199 and Joan Wiley of TransParent Niagara
Pride Niagara is pleased to announce a new award in honour of a great community voice and activist whom we sadly lost this past year, Johnathon Crawford. Johnathon was a key person in helping build a strong LGBT community here in Niagara during a time that was not as accepting. He was committed to raising positive awareness for the local LGBT community through significant fund raising efforts. Pride Niagara has created this award to honour someone whom identifies with the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community through the performing arts (stage, music, drag, design, choreography, etc.)
Other Niagara Unity Awards include: the Community Involvement Unity Award, the Volunteer Excellence Unity Award, the Outstanding Young Person Award, the Outstanding School or Gay-Straight Alliance Award, the Commitment Unity Award, the LGBT Positive Business Unity Award, the Community Culture Unity Award, and the Best Performance of the Year Award. More information on the details of these awards can be found at www.prideniagara.com
How do you find out who wins? The Niagara Unity Awards Dinner will be held on Wednesday, June 4th at Amici’s Banquet Hall & Conference Centre (2740 Merrittville Highway, Thorold) with doors opening at 6pm. The event will include an opening winery reception, a formal three course dinner, live entertainment, a fabulous silent auction, and the awards ceremony itself. There will be a special guest emcee for the evening’s events that will be announced in the weeks ahead. Tickets are only $45 or $360 for a table of 8 and can be order online off the website starting in the next few weeks.
Pride Niagara is also happy to announce our current Rainbow and Gold Sponsors for Pride Week 2014, they include Amici’s Banquet Hall & Conference Centre, BB Blooms Floral Studio, Envy Lounge, fpm3.com, Meridian Credit Union, Niagara This Week, OUTvisions, The Pink Pages Directory, Proud FM 103.9, TD Bank Canada, and White Oaks Resort & Conference Centre. For more information on Pride Niagara, how to become a sponsor or for details on the events of Pride Week 2014 in Niagara, please visit www.prideniagara.com.