We are only a few days out from the 2019 Parade of Stars Awards Gala! This event is a night of dinner, drinks, and fellowship with 400+ WBE and Corporate members, but most importantly a night to recognize and honor our award nominees. This year we had over 70 nominees across 6 categories. And while every nominee is deserving of an award, decisions still had to be made. We’ve detailed the nomination and judging process below to give you some insight on how the winners are chosen.
Nomination Process
- Nominations are submitted: any WBCS Member is invited to nominate a fellow WBCS member who has gone above and beyond in achieving the Council's mission of advancing and enhancing business opportunities between WBEs, corporate America, and the government.
- Nominees are asked to submit a response. This is a questionnaire specific to their nomination category. It asks them to detail their accomplishments, involvement with the council, and business relationships with corporations and fellow WBEs.
Judging Process
- 3rd party judges are asked to participate. The 2019 judges are:
- Bill Alcorn, retired JCPenney Executive, and first chair of the WBENC Board of Directors
- Jill Sasso, Vice President of HR, Governance and Programs at WBENC
- Cristin Thomas, Executive Director of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Initiative at Dallas County Community College District
- In a full-day event at the WBCS office, the judges come together to discuss their insights from the responses received, and narrow down the winners for each category. They received the packets prior to this day to provide ample time to read them.
- Nomination responses are kept anonymous from the judges to ensure fairness in the selection process.
- Winners are kept secret by WBCS Staff until they are announced at the Parade of Stars Awards Gala!
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(From left to right) Jill Sasso, Cristin Thomas, Bill Alcorn
We were especially excited to have Bill Alcorn, one of the original WBENC board members, join us this year as a judge. The William J. Alcorn Award established by WBENC in his honor in 2009, and is the highest honor given to an individual by WBENC. He gave us some insight in to this year’s nominees and the decision process, and why it was often a challenge to pick the winners.
“The innovative approaches and creative ideas to addressing opportunities and getting desired results were most impressive as I read through the nominations” said Alcorn. “I liked the role that WBCS played in many of the organizations that were nominated. Seminars, conferences, events, networking and various activities sponsored by WBCS were mentioned in most of the nomination write-ups as a factor helping them to gain success.” – Bill Alcorn, Retired JCPenny Executive and first chair of the WBENC Board of Directors.
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Judges and WBCS Staff
WBCS would like to say congratulations to all the nominees, and a huge thank you to our judges. Stay tuned to see who the 2019 winners will be (or join us at the Parade of Stars Awards Gala! Online registration is closed, but you can still purchase tickets at the door).
