ARLINGTON, Va. - The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) is now accepting nominations for the association’s 2009 Awards for Excellence. Awards to be presented include the ACCA Award for Excellence in Residential Contracting, the ACCA Award for Excellence in Commercial Contracting, and the Jeff Forker Award for Excellence in Training. Nomination packages must be received by Dec. 31, 2008.

Finalists will be announced in January and the winners will be announced at ACCA’s 41st Annual Conference and Indoor Air Expo, to be held Feb. 24-26, 2009 at the Fort Worth Convention Center.

Award requirements are:

Excellence in Residential Contracting and Excellence in Commercial Contracting
These two awards are given to an ACCA contractor member in each category who has demonstrated significant and exemplary achievement/success in managing their residential or commercial HVACR business, and who:

• Is properly licensed by the state, city, and/or local municipality in which they operate;

• Has been a member of ACCA for 3 or more years;

• Is committed to quality, ethical standards, sound business practices, and improving the HVACR industry;

• Is dedicated to skills training and professional development for all employees, especially NATE certification for technicians of residential contractors;

• Educates customers about efficiency, quality, and safety of products and services;

• Advocates safety in the workplace; and

• Is active in the local community through donation of time, money, and/or services.

Jeff Forker Award for Excellence in Training
The Jeff Forker Award for Excellence in Training is awarded to an ACCA member who has championed education and training initiatives and who has made outstanding progress in raising the HVACR industry’s professional standard by such things as:

• Making a formal management commitment to the training process for all employees, such as marketing, sales, or customer service training;

• Implementing in-house management and training programs for technicians, or employing 75 percent NATE-certified technicians;

• Conducting an ongoing process of continuous quality review and improvement for the training/education programs;

• Recognizing/rewarding those employees who are personally committed to continuing education and training; and/or

• Developing new training methods.

For more information and to learn how to create a nomination package, visit www.acca.org/awards. Questions may be addressed to Kelly Ercole at kelly.ercole@acca.org.

Publication date: 11/10/2008