First Annual Gala Awards Banquet was sponsored by Sun Life Financial and held at the Geraldton Curling Club Lounge on Saturday January 28, 2012 from 5:30 pm to 10:30 pm.

Tickets were $30 per person available from Eric Pietsch, Trevor Nash or Lori Beaulieu.

Nomination packages were given out to local businesses with a list of the awards and the corresponding sponsor. Ballots were then handed in and the nominations were tallied. These tallies were given to a group of five (5) independent judges.

The Award Categories, sponsors and winners were:

Award		Sponsor		Winner
Business Excellence		Pietsch Financial Services		Cloutier Contracting
Customer Service		Cloutier Contracting		Stedmans V & S
Community Spirit / Support		Royal Bank of Canada		Premier Gold
Geraldton Gold		More Than Words Employment Services		Marino Hardware
Young Entrepreneur / Leader		Imexko Greenstone Enterprise		Eric Pietsch
Business man of the Year		Geraldton Economic Development Corporation		Peter Kathmann
Business Woman of the Year		Suzanne Barker, CGA		Lynne Gosselin