Eight North Shore residents have been nominated for YWCA Metro Vancouver's 32nd annual Women of Distinction Awards.
The awards honour individuals and organizations who contribute to the well-being and future of the community, according to a YWCA press release.
From North Vancouver, Natacha Beim, CEO and founder of CEFA Early Learning Schools, and Corey Zylstra, executive director of Reach Learning Centre, have both been nominated in the Education, Training and Development category. Also from North Vancouver, Julie Blue, director of Singspiration, is up for an Arts, Culture and Design award, and UBC psychology professor and researcher Liisa Galea is nominated in the category of Technology, Science and Research.
From West Vancouver, Michelle Osry, a partner with Deloitte, has been nominated in the Business and the Professions category. Barbara Fitzgerald, president of Mom2Mom Child Poverty Initiative Society, and Heather MacKenzie, co-founder and co-executive director of The Cinderella Project, are both up for Community Champion awards. And Maxine Davis, executive director of the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation, is a nominee in the Non-Profit or Public Service category.
In addition to the 10 nomination categories, the individual nominees are eligible for the Connecting the Community Award. The nominees will select a YWCA program area in which they are interested and use social media channels, such as Twitter and Facebook, to promote votes. The public can cast votes from April 22 to May 15 and the nominee with the most votes will receive the award. Scotiabank will donate $10,000 to the YWCA program area of her choice.
Award recipients will be announced on May 26 during an awards dinner at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Tickets are available at ywcavan.org/distinction.
