No Ka 'Oi
Advertiser Staff
Awards to Hawai'i Businesses
• TANTE URBAN, founder of the Kona Filipino Chamber of Commerce, and two-time past president of the Filipino Organization of Kona, was among six national honorees in the 10th Annual Asian Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.
The award, sponsored by Asian Business Ventures Inc., publisher of Asian Enterprise Magazine, recognizes Asian-American-run businesses excelling in a number of categories, including high technology, service and hospitality. Winners are chosen on a number of qualifications, including financial condition, business growth, job creation and ability to overcome economic and ethnic barriers.
• For its signature logo designs in place on such diverse businesses as the Turtle Bay Resort's Lei Lei's Bar & Grill, Hawaiian Xtreme Sports Television and the Alabama Rural Electrical Association, Honolulu-based graphic design firm JOHN WINGARD DESIGN won seven awards of excellence in the David Carter LOGO 2004 competition. One of the awards was for the company's own corporate identity logo.
• Recent renovations of Palolo Homes, the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's historic Hawai'i Hall, and American Savings Bank's new branch at Bishop Square are among projects recently honored by the local chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. The annual Kukulu Hale Awards recognize excellence in Hawai'i's commercial real-estate industry:
Campbell Estate trustee RICHARD W. GUSHMAN II was honored with the group's Lifetime Achievement Holo Pono Award.
Mark A. Robinson Trust trustee WILLIAM A. PATY JR. was given the Outstanding Service Award in recognition of contributions in the public sector, including past chairmanship of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, and acting as president of the 1978 state Constitutional Convention.
Receiving the Ku Ho'okela Developer of the Year Award was MW GROUP LTD., recent projects of which have included the Pioneer Plaza renovation, Nimitz Center facelift, and affordable-retirement residence The Plaza at Punchbowl.
Other Kukulu Hale Awards include the Star of the Sea Parish Center, Starbucks Coffee and Jamba Juice stores and the historic downtown King Kalakaua Building (site of the downtown Honolulu Post Office) renovation.
• Former Hawai'i Visitors Bureau and Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i head STANLEY W. HONG, and his late father, Dr. Gilbert S.N. Hong, have become the first father and son to be named Alumni of the Year for Saint Louis School. The elder Hong (class of 1923) was honored in 1993; his son (class of 1954) was named Alumnus of the Year 2004. Hong, an attorney and president of Waste Management of Hawaii Inc., is also past chairman of the Saint Louis Board of Trustees and co-chairman of the capital campaign to build the Dr. Richard T. Mamiya Theatre on the school's Kaimuki campus.
• MAUI DIVERS JEWELRY, which is celebrating its 45th anniversary, has been named to the premier list of National Jeweler magazine's Top 50 North American Retail Jewelry Chains. The Honolulu-based company was ranked 24th, with its 41 concept stores nationwide, including Maui Divers Jewelry, Island Pearls and Pick-A-Pearl. The company owns and operates stores on four islands, and in California, Nevada and Florida.
Announcements for the No Ka 'Oi business awards column can be sent to: Business Awards, Business Section, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802; faxed to 525-6763, or e-mailed to business@honoluluadvertiser.com. For e-mailed releases, please include information in the body of the message, not as an attachment. Please include a telephone contact number.
