![](\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/09\/30thAnnual-Sterling-Logo_300x254.jpg\"){kind=logo}
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Dear Sterling Applicants:<\/p>\n
First, I would like to thank you for engaging in one of the most rigorous and challenging programs recognizing excellence in the valley. For 30 years, the Sterling Awards have become synonymous with business excellence and community stewardship. Every company who has chosen to engage in the process learns something about itself along the way, and every company benefits from placing themselves in competition to be the Sterling honoree. This year, we have seen record numbers of applicants in several of the categories, forcing the judges to make difficult decisions in scoring to determine who the finalists will be. The Chamber would like to thank those peer judges, many of them past finalists and honorees, for their hard work and for the work to come in determining the eventual honorees for the Sterling Awards. I know that you will join us in congratulating this year’s finalists and that you will want to be at the Sterling Awards this year cheering on the finalists and the honorees. It is companies like yours that make Sterling special! The 2015 Sterling Finalists are Playworks Arizona, Franciscan Renewal Center, and Shoebox Ministry.<\/p>\n
Anna Mineer<\/em><\/p>\n Vice President of Business Development<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the Chamber’s marquee event, the Sterling Awards embody the spirit of our organization by celebrating the people and companies that make our community a great place to live, work and play.The prestigious Sterling Award is one of the most coveted business awards in the Valley, with a rigorous application, judging and selection process. Four teams of six judges each conduct an initial review of all applications and narrow the field to three finalists in each category. Once the finalists are identified, the judging teams visit those companies to conduct a personal interview and get a behind-the-scenes look at the operation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":57,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"region":[],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n