Application Process & Policies
-
Timeline: Businesses apply in the Winter
of the award year, a Selection Committee meets in early
Spring and the awards are presented at the May Luncheon
Meeting of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce.
- Application Submittal Criteria: Your business will be evaluated based on your written answers to each question on the application. Written text for SQA applications must be limited to five (5) double sided 8½ x 1 sheets. All SQA Grand Prize applicants should address criteria for Economic Development, Social Responsibility, and Stewardship of the Natural Environment. Excellence Award applicants should address the criteria for the area in which they are applying.
- Successful applications will speak to the criteria demonstrating excellence in the following ways:
Innovation: That the organization has demonstrated leadership in sustainability by being among the first in the Santa Monica area to create or adopt a more sustainable strategy, method, process, procedure or technology.
Commitment: That the organization is participating in a comprehensive or significantly greater number or degree of sustainable practices than the typical area business in its industry.
Documented Results: That the organization has reported the measurable results of their adoption of sustainable practices. Examples might include specific and significant reduction of energy use (kilowatt hours), water use (gallons), waste (pounds) or carbon emissions (tons) from adopting conservation measures; number of summer jobs or internships created. Documented benefits to business (such as cost savings resulting from conservation measures or increase in sales from the offering of environmentally-friendly products) should also be noted.
- In addition, SQA applicants must:
- Include support material as attachments to your application. This may be taken from your existing company literature. Photographs and other graphic materials illustrating key points may be included in this material. If you have support materials that cannot be emailed, hand deliver them to the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce.
- Print applications on recycled paper indicating any post-consumer content in the footer page.
- Practice the 3 R’s when submitting final applications i.e., print on both sides of pages, use reusable folders etc. where feasible.
- Email or hand-deliver your final application on or before the due date to the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce office.
- Please do not bind submissions.
How to Apply
1. Begin by completing the SQA Nomination Form (PDF). From this initial application, a Selection Committee will choose a group of finalists. Finalists will then complete a questionnaire and give details about how their operations take into account the three areas of sustainable quality. Established experts in each of the three areas individually review and, as a subcommittee, select outstanding achievement in their category. The three subcommittees then come together to select companies who have achieved excellence in the balancing of all three areas.
2. After the subcommittees offer their recommendations, the nominated businesses are asked to submit an SQA Application Form (PDF).
Grand Prize:
Applicants for the SQA Grand Prize must respond to questions
in all three categories.
Excellence Award: Applicants
for SQA Excellence Awards should respond to the appropriate
categories.
If you need help filling out the form please take a look at submissions from previous winners. *
* Posted with permission.