St. Charles CVB a finalist for industry award

The Greater St. Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau was named a finalist in the Midwest/Regional Best CVB/DMO category for the prestigious Stella Awards, which honor excellence in the meetings industry.

Earlier this year, the CVB also received an Excellence in Tourism Award for Best Visitors Publication at the Illinois Governor's Conference on Travel and Tourism.

"The GSCCVB brand is focused on promoting sight-doing rather than simply sightseeing," said Executive Director Lula Cassidy. "I believe one of the reasons we were selected as a finalist is because the Greater St. Charles area has so much to offer visitors. They can truly 'See It. Do It. Live It.' in our community. And, as a small-town girl from Illinois, I feel extremely honored to be among such a prestigious group - especially because the other award winners represent such large, metropolitan areas. Some of them are 25 times the size of our community. I believe this points to the quality of our destination's attractions."

The Stella Awards recognize hotels, convention centers, conference centers, airlines, cruise lines, DMO/CVBs, and DMCs that consistently deliver quality service and innovation to meeting and events professionals. Nominees competed in 18 categories from six different regions, with nearly 300 competitors in the Midwest. Finalists in each category were named by industry professionals during an open voting period; winners were selected by an expert panel of judges overseen by the editors of the Northstar Meetings Group brands, Meetings & Conventions and Successful Meetings.

The GSCCVB is funded by the Illinois Office of Tourism and a portion of the hotel/motel tax collected by St. Charles hotels to promote the Greater St. Charles area as a destination for leisure tourists, conventions, sports events and meetings.