A pan-northern business crowd gathered around a dripping ice sculpture at the High Country Inn on Thursday for the Frozen Globe Awards.
It was the second year of the event, created by Up Here Business magazine, celebrating businesses across the North, large and small.
A jury of luminaries including former N.W.T. premier Joe Handley, former Yukon MP Larry Bagnell, and former Toronto Star publisher John A. Honderich, made the final decisions on who would be named the masters of northern mercantilism.
Yukon Brewing was named Yukon Entreprenuer of the Year, for a business under 100 employees.
“We were pretty surprised, we had no idea,” said Bob Baxter of Yukon Brewing. “I look at it as a feather in the cap of all the people that work here. You go to work everyday, slaving away, and you wonder if anyone notices. It nice to know you’re not working in a vacuum.”
Aasman Brand Communications was named Most Innovative Business.
Aasman’s Corey Bradbury said the Whitehorse-based company has been at the forefront in applying responsive design to web-based projects, including the Yukon News’ new website.
“Responsive design is not a new idea, but it hadn’t really caught on in the North,” said Bradbury. “That website is one of the first major responsive websites in the North.”
Responsive design is a way to build websites so they work well across different platforms, such as desktop, tablet, or smartphone.
Bradbury also said the company has embraced non-traditional campaign methods to get a client’s message out.
Five years ago, the company made a major shift in philosophy, even changing their name its Aasman Design Inc. to Aasman Brand Communications, emphasizing its bigger-picture communications approach, rather than simply making logos.
Canoe North Adventures, an guiding company that has led trips across the North, and is most recently based in Norman Wells, N.W.T., won the top prize, Northern Entrepreneur of the Year.
EBA Engineering, with offices in Whitehorse and Yellowknife, among other places, was named Top Large Business.
Northern Vision Development won the Best Marketed Business award.
Iqaluit’s Arctic Circle Dental Services won the People’s Choice Award, decided by online voting.
A complete list of winners and finalists can be found at frozenglobes.ca.
Contact Ian Stewart at
istewart@yukon-news.com