Seven Spokane area firms or groups were winners in the annual Agora Awards completion, honoring business excellence.

• Large nonprofit: Greater Spokane County Meals On Wheels.
• Small nonprofit: Greater Spokane Substance Abuse Council.
• Small business: Angus Meats.
• Medium business: Dutch Bros. Coffee.
• Large business: Baker Construction and Development.
• Entrepreneurial spirit: Maid Naturally.
• Community Service Award: Action Moving Services

This was the 27th year awards were presented.

The annual Greater Spokane Inc.-sponsored Agora Awards will be announced May 30. Here are the nominees in the five categories:  For additional information on the awards, the GSI link has it.    

Small nonprofit

• Christ Kitchen
• Greater Spokane Substance Abuse Council (GSSAC)
• Inland Northwest Community Foundation

• Greater Spokane County Meals on Wheels
• Shriners Hospitals for Children – Spokane
• Spokane Guilds’ School & Neuromuscular Center

• Angus Meats, Inc.
• Maid Naturally, LLC
• Modern Construction & Consulting Services, LLC
• Zipline Interactive

• Action Moving Services
• Crown West Realty, LLC
• Dutch Bros. Coffee
• State Bank Northwest

• Baker Construction & Development, Inc.
• Haskins Steel Co., Inc.
• InCyte Pathology
• Inland Empire Distribution Systems, Inc.

The nominees for the coming Catalyst Awards, a yearly tech-company designation managed by Greater Spokane Inc., have been announced. The Catalyst Awards will be presented Oct. 5 at the Riverpont Campus South Facility.

Can this really be the 26th year for the annual Agora Awards?  That long, really? 

This year's winners will be announced Wednesday by Greater Spokane Inc. in a ceremony starting at 7 a.m. at the Davenport Hotel.

Agora Awards are annual recognitions of business excellence in the Spokane area. The categories this year for “business rock stars” are in small business, medium business, large business, small nonprofit, large nonprofit.

Anyone can register for the awards at http://events.greaterspokane.org. Individual tickets are $30 and $40.

To see the awards online Wednesday morning, go to Spokesman.com and look in the Business category. We'll be publishing them shortly after being announced.

The nominees for the 2011 AGORA Awards were announced Tuesday by  Greater Spokane Incorporated. Winners will be announced June 1 at The Davenport Hotel from 7:00 a.m.-9:30 a.m. ?Attendees can register at events.greaterspokane.org.  The awards recognize area businesses for excellence.

Nominees by category are: 

Small business

• Clark's Tire & Automotive
• Craftsmen Construction, Inc.
• Desautel Hege Communications

Medium business

• GeoEngineers, Inc.
• Horizon Hospice
• Travel Leaders
• Youthful Horizons Therapy

Large business

• Graham Construction & Management, Inc.
• Northwest Farm Credit Services
• Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories (PAML)
• Spokane Industries, Inc.

Nonprofit, small 

• Inland Northwest Community Foundation
• Spokane Lilac Festival Association
• Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery

Nonprofit, large

• Second Harvest
• The Salvation Army of Spokane
• Volunteers of America

For those stumped (or annoyed) at yesterday’s Trivia Challenge, I say: keep trying. Let’s give you a hint.

The organization that launched the Catalyst Awards is TechNet.

Answer one more of the other three questions correctly, and you’ve earned a $5 coffee card. How hard is that?

We posted the quiz yesterday on this blog; it was our way of saluting the awards, which are handed out more or less annually. The winners were posted yesterday, also.

Now for a bit of caviling. The original purpose of the Catalysts was to call attention to tech companies and tech leaders in the community. Does it look like it’s strayed off target, now allowing non-tech firms or groups to earn the prize?

In a word, yeah.

When that drift occurs, why have them, since the community has other awards for business, such as the Agora Awards? End of screed, now back to our regular programming…

To come in with a winning entry for the coffee card, simply post an answer below or e-mail Business@spokesman.com with the subject “Catalyst.”

Seven area organizations on Wednesday were given Agora Awards during an annual ceremony hosted by Greater Spokane Incorporated. Winners were:

• Small Nonprofit: Spokane Humane Society
• Large Nonprofit: YMCA of the Inland Northwest
  
• Large Business: Advantage IQ
• Small Business: Catered for You
• Medium Business: Nystrom Olson Collins, Inc. 
  
• Entrepreneurial Spirit Award: Stewart and Associates.
• C. Michael Archer Community Service Award: Moss Adams accounting firm.
  

The awards recognize  business and community excellence. Independent judges consider company growth, employee environment and other factors. FOR JUDGES’ comments on the winners, go to the next page below:

A clinic, a cellar, and a caterer are among the finalists for the 2010 Agora Awards announced today by Greater Spokane Incorporated.

For small non-profits, the finalists are Christ Clinic, Spokane Humane Society, and Tincan.

Among the large non-profits, Catholic Charities of Spokane, The Salvation Army of Spokane, and YMCA of the Inland Northwest are the remaining contestants.

Caffe Paradiso, Catered for You Inc., Design Source Inc. and Stewart & Associates PS are the finalists for the small business award.

In the medium business category, the finalists are Arbor Crest Wine Cellars, Coffman Engineers Inc., DeVries Business Services and Nystrom Olson Collins Inc.

And the large business group contains Advantage IQ Inc., CH2M Hill Inc., Inland Empire Distribution Systems Inc., and Moss Adams LLP.

The winners will be announced at a June 2 breakfast.