“In Sync in Saskatoon” was the theme for this year’s Best of CAMA which AdFarm celebrated on November 15, 2012. And “in sync” we were – taking home a total of 3 first place awards and 7 merit awards as well as AdFarm’s Amanda Howard being awarded the Alberta Chapter Honour Roll for her contributions to Alberta CAMA.
Awards are great, no doubt about it and we love ‘em but what really stood out for this year’s Best of CAMA were the overwhelming number of entries and the attendance. Close to 200 people from a broad range of agriculture and agrimarketing companies from across Canada attended the sold-out gala evening and over 400 entries were submitted this year – both records for Best of CAMA. The upswing can be directly attributed to the positive energy flowing in agriculture right now. Simply put, ag is the place to be.
AdFarmer and CAMA award recipient Amanda Howard
And you could feel it in the room at Best of CAMA. You could sense the excitement and optimism about our industry from the cocktail hours, where all the finalists’ entries were displayed, to the Agriculture More Than Ever interactive video booth in which attendees’ pride in agriculture was recorded and captured (Look for videos and photos at facebook.com/agriculturemorethanever). The silent and live auctions raised an outstanding $50,000 which goes towards the Canadian Agribusiness Education Foundation scholarship fund. Throughout the evening, a sense of pride, nostalgia, optimism and excitement all blended together to create a very memorable event.
Last year, AdFarm’s Kim McConnell, was awarded the Agri-Marketer of the Year award. The honour this year was bestowed upon Lyndon Carlson, Vice-President Marketing at Farm Credit Canada. This award is given annually to one individual who through his or her career has made a difference in agrimarketing in Canada. We salute Lyndon in joining this list of fine individuals and thank every one of them for making agrimarketing a great place to be!
The full list of winners from the 2012 Best of CAMA awards gala can be found at www.bestofcama.com and we look forward to 2013 Best of CAMA in La Belle Province – Quebec!
After the exhilaration of the gala awards was over, the party moved on and continued at the official after party sponsored by Farm Business Communications. That however, is another blog entry…