Still time to enter Sage Award for environmental leadership

Deadline is next Friday, Nov. 5

Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, October 29, 2010

HIGH POINT, N.C. — There's still time to submit an entry for the 2010 Sage Award, recognizing environmental leadership in the furnishings and bedding industries. The deadline is midnight Friday, Nov. 5.

The entry form and guidelines are posted at www.SageAward.org. Manufacturers, retailers and suppliers to the residential furnishings and bedding industries are eligible to enter. The entry form is completed online and submitted via e-mail.

Now in its third year, the Sage Award program recognizes companies whose environmental leadership illuminates a pathway of improvement that others in the industry can follow.

Applicants for the award should be able to demonstrate practical and innovative advances in reducing their environmental footprint and operating a sustainable business. The entry form also asks the company to describe efforts to expand its positive social impact and to remain a viable business into the future.

There is no cost to enter.

Up to three 2010 Sage Award finalists will be honored during the Dec. 1-2 All-Industry Sustainability Summit at the Hilton Asheville Biltmore Park in Asheville, N.C. The finalists will receive a complimentary registration to the Summit and the winner will be announced at an awards reception on Dec. 1.

The Sage Award is sponsored by the American Home Furnishings Alliance and Cargill's BiOH polyols business. The organizations emphasize that applicants do not need to be AHFA members or users of Cargill's BiOH polyols. Neither AHFA nor Cargill are represented on the judging panel, and the High Point-based accounting firm of Smith Leonard will tabulate the results.
In addition, the judging panel has been expanded to include experts both inside and outside the residential furniture industry. They include: Ray Allegrezza, editor-in-chief of Furniture/Today; Mary Frye, president of Home Furnishings Independents Assn.; Heather Gadonniex, managing partner with MindClick SGM, a consulting firm specializing in sustainable business; and Leslie Guevarra, associate editor at Greener World Media, publisher of GreenBiz.com, GreenerBuildings.com and GreenerDesign.com.
Also on the panel are Susan Inglis, executive director of the Sustainable Furnishings Council; Robyn Griggs Lawrence, editor-in-chief of Natural Home magazine; Jean Nayer, former editor-in-chief of Woman's Day Special Interest Magazines and author of "Green Living by Design"; Richard Prisco, professor of industrial design at Appalachian State University; Ryan Trainer, president of the International Sleep Products Assn.; and Steve Walker, assistant director of the Furniture Manufacturing and Management Center, North Carolina State University.