Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards Competition

We are officially launching our 25th competition!

The Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of Prince Edward Island is launching its 25th Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards competition to honor entrepreneur(s), businesses, organizations, and cooperatives that have distinguished themselves by the high quality of their commercial products and/or services and for their contributions to the local and provincial economy. We continue to particularly focus on sustainable development in all categories. Everyone is invited to submit nominations for deserving individuals, businesses, cooperatives, or organizations. The deadline for submitting nominations is November 13, 2026!


Please note the changes to the first category (in bold).

Entrepreneurs Gala 2027

It is at the Entrepreneurs Gala 2027 at the Acadian Musical Village in Abram-Village on March 20, 2027, that we will award our five regular prizes. The categories for this year:

Remarkable Young Entrepreneur Award 2027

  • The nominated person must be between 15 and 35 years old as of March 20, 2027, and have demonstrated their entrepreneurial initiative in a significant way (particularly in innovation or sustainable development), especially over the past year. (This award comes with a reward investment of $1,000 for 2027!)

Social Economy Business Award 2027

  • The nominated company, cooperative or organization, which must have some economic vocation, must have distinguished itself by its achievements and successes, including its impact on its community, especially over the past year.

Distinguished Employee Award 2027

  • The nominee must be an employee of a company, cooperative or organization who has distinguished himself/herself by the quality of his/her customer service, or by his/her achievements or leadership in the business world, especially over the past year.

Business Excellence Award 2027

  • The nominated company must have demonstrated particular distinction and excellence, especially over the past year, in one or more of the following categories: sustainable development, innovation, quality of service, job creation and community impact.

Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame Award 2027

  • The nominee must have at least 25 years of entrepreneurial experience, as this award is intended to honor an entrepreneur or business person who has distinguished themselves through their efforts and achievements throughout their career (life-time achievement). The nominee may be working, retired or deceased. The winner will be officially inducted into the Acadian and Francophone Business Hall of Fame.

Please note

  • You have the option to fill out the form either in French or in English! If you need help filling out the simplified form, contact Alecia at alecia@rdeeipe.org.
  • You must submit a good high-resolution photo of the person, company, organization or cooperative with the application file.
  • The nominated individual, business, organization or cooperative must be, or be ready to become, a member of the Chambre de commerce acadienne et francophone de l'Î.-P.-É.
  • At least one of the owners, co-owners or officers of the business, organization or cooperative must be able to express himself/herself in French.
  • The nominated person, company, organization or cooperative cannot have won an award in the same category in the last three editions of our Gala. (See list below). In addition, a person can only be inducted into the Hall of Fame once, as inductees are there for life.
  • An individual, company, organization or cooperative can be nominated in more than one category, but can only win in one category per year.
  • A selection panel will make its choices according to the established criteria. It reserves the right to reject incomplete entries or those that do not meet the criteria. It may also choose not to award one or more of the prizes if the relevance of the nominations for that/those prize(s) is not sufficient or adequate. A maximum of three nominations per category will normally be accepted, but exceptions may be made. In special cases (especially in the Hall of Fame category), the jury may nominate more than one winner per year.
  • The deadline for submitting nomination forms is noon on November 13, 2026.

To submit

You have three options for completing and submitting the application form:

OPTION 1

You can fill out the form online (by clicking on the link) and then submit the high-resolution photo by email to alecia@rdeeipe.org.

Online form

OPTION 2

You can download the form in Word format (by clicking on the link), fill it in and then send it with the high-resolution photo by e-mail to alecia@rdeeipe.org.

Form in Word format

OPTION 3

You can pick up a paper copy of the form at the RDÉE ÎPÉ office (at the Wellington Rural Action Centre), fill it out by hand and return it to us in person with a nice photo, or mail it to Jury de sélection, RDÉE Î.-P.-É. 48 Mill Road, PO Box 7, Wellington, PE, C0B 2E0.

Any questions can also be sent to alecia@rdeeipe.org.

(Please note that an English version of the Word form is available for those who cannot read French).

Recent winners who are not eligible

2026 Winners

  • Hall of Fame 2026 : Alcide Bernard (General Manager and Manager) from Wellington, Johnny Gallant (Gallant Farm and M&J Professional Saws) from St-Timothée, Karen Richard (La Coupe Classique) from Urbainville, and Wilfred Thompson (Thompson’s Woodcraft) from Central Bedeque
  • Business Excellence Award 2026: MacKay’s Automotive (Jamie Gallant), Wilmot Valley
  • Distinguished Employee Award 2026: Alain Arsenault (Arsenault's Sawmill), St-Chrysostome
  • Social Economy Business Award 2026: The Acadian Voice, Summerside
  • Special Recognition Award 2025: Mélina pi Gélina (Debbie Rousselle-Montgomery of Abram-Village and Samantha Arsenault of St-Timothée)

Winners 2025

  • Hall of Fame 2025: The late Louise Comeau (multi-entrepreneur and SDBA) of Cap-Egmont, Linda Lowther (Le Groupe Lowther and multi-entrepreneur) of Cavendish, Donnie Arsenault (Wellington Service Station and multi-entrepreneur) of Wellington and Leonard Gallant (Len's Grocery and car salesman) of Summerside and formerly of Wellington; ;
  • 2025 Company of Excellence Award : Island Portable Buildings (Robert Poirier), St-Raphaël ;
  • Distinguished Employee 2025 Award : Tammy Strongman (La Coopérative Le Chez-Nous), Wellington ;
  • Prix Entreprise d'économie sociale 2025 : La Coopérative d'artisanat d'Abram-Village, Abram-Village ;

Winners 2024

  • Hall of Fame 2024Alfred Arsenault of Fermes Urbainville (Urbainville); the late Édouard T. Arsenault of Maisons de bouteilles (Cap-Egmont); Ernest Arsenault of Arsenault Painters (Abram-Village and Urbainville); the late Franky Arsenault of Moulin à Franky (St-Chrysostome); Joseph Caissie, fisherman and Egmont Bay Seafood (Maximeville); John and Alphonse Arsenault of J.C. Drilling Inc. Drilling Inc (St-Raphaël); and Léo-Paul Arsenault of LP Electronics (Day's Corner); ;
  • Prix de l'Entreprise d'excellence 2024 : HMS Office Solutions (Pierre Gallant), Summerside and Charlottetown ;
  • Distinguished Employee Award 2024 : Carmella Richard, manager of Maisons de bouteilles, Cap-Egmont ;
  • Prix de l'Entreprise d'économie sociale 2024 : Le Centre Goéland / Le Village des Sources l'Étoile Filante, Cap-Egmont ;
  • Outstanding Young Entrepreneur Award 2024 Zack Montreuil, Chow Time Pet Foods, Brackley.

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