Traverse Connect is now accepting nominations for the 2023 Distinguished Service Award. That award is intended to honor “business leaders, public servants, patrons of area arts, and those from a host of other backgrounds who’ve worked and given tirelessly to improve the region.”

Traverse Connect (and before it, the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce) has presented the Distinguished Service Award award every year for nearly a century, ever since R. Ford Clinch became the first winner in 1929. Other winners from over the years include TART Trails visionary Ted Okerstrom, local healthcare pioneer Dr. John Spencer, Traverse Symphony Orchestra founder Elinora Milliken, and many others.

Those wishing to submit nominations for the Distinguished Service Award can do so now on the Traverse Connect website. Nominations will be accepted until 5pm on Friday, January 26, with the winner to be announced in March. Per Traverse Connect, nominees must be residents of the organization’s five-county service area, but needn’t be Traverse Connect advisors.