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January 21, 2008
Canadian Planners Take Top Honors in Atlanta

Friday January 18th in Atlanta, Georgia at the International Special Event Awards, 2 Canadian companies grabbed top honors their outstanding work. First on the stage was experiential events, with offices in Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria, who was presented with a GALA Award by Special Events Magazine for Best Wedding in the World under $1000 per guest in front of a black tie gala at the Georgia World Congress Center. For the first time in history the Best Wedding Category was awarded to a same-sex wedding. Kenneth Kristoffersen CSEP, President and Creative Director of experiential events, and Hanan Chebib, Senior Calgary Event Architect accepted the award on behalf of the company. "This is the most prestigious award in the special event industry and to be recognized in this way is an honour for our entire team," he said.

Another HUGE win for Canada went to another Calgary firm. e=mc² Event Management took home 2 awards, the first for Best Event Staged In Multiple Locations for a 6 week long road show which was celebrating an acquisition and company transition. e=mc² Event Management also won for Best Fundraising Event for and event called - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, which was a birthday party extraordinaire for 13 of Calgary's most prominent business leaders who just happen to be celebrating their 50th at the same time. The event raised over 3 million dollars for prostate cancer with no sponsorships. This event beat MGM Grand in Vega for the Awards (50s style theme) - in addition to wins e=mc² was also the also nominated 4 other categories.

Jocelyn Flanagan, President e=mc² Event Management states "I'm ecstatic to be on stage with some of the finest event leaders in the world, in a industry that changes people lives and I also can't go without mentioning my fabulous team as they are an extraordinary group of professionals".

Also nominated for Gala Awards from Canada were Carter Mcrae from Calgary, Hala Events & Communications, Toronto, Regal Tent Productions, Stoney Creek, Ontario and Fulford-Brown Inc., Toronto, Ontario.

Congratulations to all the winners! Look for all these companies and more Canadians when we announce the Canadian Event Industry Awards Nominees on March 2nd 2008, and the winners on April 3rd 2008.