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2024 Year in Review – News Stories

By Matthew Cheung

Published 10:30 PST, Mon January 13, 2025

Last Updated: 10:30 PST, Mon January 13, 2025

As we approach the end of 2024, the first full calendar year since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Richmond Sentinel would like to recap some notable city news and highlight some of the awards of recognition for the city, it’s local businesses, and citizens. 

Notable Sports and Arts Recognition in the city

The Richmond Sentinel is always appreciative of local talent and recognition. To start off the year, we highlighted the story about Ryan Wang, a young piano prodigy who started playing the piano at the age of four, made a generous donation to the Richmond Hospital Foundation. A little more than six months later, Richmond’s own Chloe Lu was crowned Miss Teenage Richmond 2024. Chloe, who at the time was in grade 11, at Hugh McRoberts Secondary School, is a competitive figure skater who has represented B.C. at several national competitions, whose platform is on mental health in sports and creating a safe learning environment for young Canadian athletes. 

Two months later, news about a rising Jazz star was brought to our attention. He attended Palmer Secondary School and placed third in this year’s National Trumpet Competition, Luke Young took the time to do an interview with us to discuss his musical journey, influences, and future in music.

The City of Richmond also honoured the remarkable Canadian athletes from Richmond who sacrificed their blood, sweat, and tears, preparing and participating in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Richmond’s own Camryn Rogers, Evan Dunfee, and Nicholas Zhang, were each presented with Ceritificates of Achievement for their success in Paris and for representing the community they were born and raised in. Rogers, a graduate of McMath Secondary, became the recipient of Canada’s first Olympic gold medal in women’s track and field in almost a century. Evan Dunfee achieved fifth place in the 20 km race walk and Nicholas Zhang, a pupil at Richmond’s Dynamo Fencing Club and student at Harvard University made his Olympic debut as an épée fencer. 

City starts off the 2024 with a win

The first two months of the year saw the City of Richmond become the recipient of four awards; the 2023 National Energy Globe Award, which recognizes projects focused on energy efficiency, sustainability and the use of renewable energy or emission free sources in over 180 countries; two national awards from the Silver Leaf Awards of Merit for communication and community engagement to increase awareness and compliance to generate ideas for reducing waste; and the Business Friendly Award, for approaches and initiatives that make it one of Canada’s most business-friendly cities. 

Notable Business Award Recipients

It’s only right that a city that won four awards in the first two months of the year be filled with businesses that were also recipients of awards. In 2024, six businesses received awards for their efforts in making the city a place to live. 

On March 7, Tourism Richmond received the 2024 Destination Market Organization (DMO) Professional Excellence Award. Two months later, on May 25, saw local development company Everglade Development receive not one but three Georgie Awards for BC’s Best Corporate / Project Website, Best Project Identity, and Best Advertising Campaign. 

To end off the year, four outstanding tourism leaders in the City of Richmond were awarded by Tourism Richmond for being EPIC. Athiana Acres was awarded the Excellence Award for Innovation for its diverse produce and new guided farm tours, Chloe Kim from Versante Hotel was awarded the Passion Award for exceptional service, The Sharing Farm Society the Integrity Award for Community Participation for its contributions, and finally the Steveston Waterfront Hotel won the Collaboration Award for Successful Partnerships for its “Brews n’ Bikes” package, promoting local businesses and enhancing the experience for visitors and locals alike. 

The community’s present and future generations take great strides 

A city is only as great as the people that live in it, and that applied to those in Richmond, British Columbia. The first community award given out was to Loren Slye on April 15, a long-time Steveston resident, he was recognized with the 2023 National Award for Volunteerism for his dedication of over 50 years of volunteering in community services. 

On May 10, over 100 local students attended the 2024 Richmond Regional Heritage Fair, over 30 students were recognized for their commitment to history and, 27 students were presented awards. 

On June 7, Richmond student, Nitika, who was a fourth-year co-op student attending Langara College was named the 2023 Co-op Student of the Year. 

Continuing on with the theme of seeing our future generations be rewarded for their work, on July 4, the Richmond Community Foundation awarded total of 49 scholarships, with a combined value of $21,500 to 40 Richmond students, factoring in academic achievements, community involvement, and strength of references. 

Five more students were awarded a Beedies Luminaries scholarships of up to $44,000 on July 5, recognizing promising B.C. students who faced life challenges and adversity with determination and resilience. Those students are Doroth Yuen and Taixi Wang from Hugh McRoberts Secondary, Menam Mehmood from R.C. Palmer Secondary, Mackenna Light from Richmond Christian Secondary School, and Kelly Huang from Richmond Secondary School. 

Straying away from our future generation, we look at the legacy of our current generation. On August 20, long time Richmond resident, Jim Kojima was recognized and awarded the Medal of Good Citizenship by the Province of British Columbia. He was recognized as an important member of the Steveston Community and was one of 18 people who received the award for their extraordinary contributions to their community. According to the province, “the Medal of Good Citizenship celebrates individuals who have acted in a particularly generous, kind or selfless manner for the betterment of their communities without expectation of reward.” 

As we continue into the year, we look at one Richmond resident who’s hardworking and contributions to the community continue to be recognized, on August 23, local McDonald’s manager Baljit Sokhi was named a recipient of the Ray Kroc award, which recognizes the top performing McDonald’s restaurant managers globally, only one per cent of restaurant managers around the world receive such honour. 

The final quarter of the calendar year saw four Richmond citizens receive awards for their contributions. On September 8, Richmond’s Jim Kojima, Harold Steves, and Alan Sakai were all recipients of the King Charles III Coronation Medal during a ceremony at the Seine Net Loft. Such recognition is a Canadian honour that recognizes those who have made significant contributions to Canada and their home provinces, and is the first Canadian honour to mark a coronation. 

On September 18, Richmond’s own Lana Wilhelm was awarded the 2024 Women in Forestry award for her work in fostering sustainable practices and advancing inclusivity in the industry. 

DISCLAIMER: All awards that were listed here is not a complete list and is a compilation of the awards news that the Richmond Sentinel has received. There is a possibility that some awards may have been missed.

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