New contracts, networking opportunities and a boost to staff morale – Darren Templeton of Maddington Smash in Western Australia flags the major benefits of being one of the two recipients for last year's Community Hero award.
“I believe it's opened doors – we've picked up new contacts. It's been fantastic overall.
“We have a 'young gun' group in WA and I talk to them regularly and say, 'you know you've got to have a crack at these awards'.”
Templeton won Community Hero alongside Peter Christodoulou from Bodytech, New South Wales.
For Templeton, whose business was nominated externally, attending the awards at Sydney's Randwick Racecourse was invaluable for mingling with industry top guns.
“The contacts we picked on the day will be with us forever.”
If you want to follow in his footsteps, or you know someone who deserves to be crowned a local hero in the smash repair, nominations for the 2016 award are now open.
Here's the general criteria to be in the running to win:
This business will be involved in community initiatives such as supporting local sports teams, seniors clubs, making a contribution to local business community initiatives or being involved with schools and colleges. The nominated business will need to fill out a form detailing their community involvement.
It's that simple.
Winners will be flown to Sydney for our glamorous award presentation in October and will also be featured in the November issue of Paint & Panel.
Entries close on May 16 2016.
Good luck and get nominating!