The Sprott School at the Canada Post E-commerce Innovation Awards

A group of Sprott students, alumni, faculty and staff were special guests of Canada Post at the inaugural Canada Post E-commerce Innovation Awards ceremony, which recognize successful innovation in e-commerce in Canada. The prestigious gala dinner honouring the award winners was held at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto last week.

The Sprott School has a close relationship with Canada Post, who has hired many students and alumni over the years. MBA candidates Sohail Manoussi and Debolina Das, who attended the ceremony, completed internships with Canada Post over the summer.

“The opportunity to attend was absolutely amazing. The exposure to industry and Canadian innovation was unbeatable,” says Aaron Smorodin-Lindgren, fourth-year Bachelor of Commerce student. “My highlight of the evening was when Deepak Chopra, CEO of Canada Post, took the time to have personal conversations with each of the Sprott students. He was truly interested in our career aspirations and also our involvement at Sprott.”

students and staff at the innovation awards — Representing Sprott at the awards gala were: (left to right) MBA candidate Sohail Manoussi, Commerce alumnus Jessica Karam, MBA candidate Debolina Das, Commerce student Aaron Smorodin-Lindgren, Alanna Allen from Sprott’s Business Career Management Centre and International Business alumnus Vlad Shevchenko. Commerce student Erin Peck and Dr. Ian Lee, Sprott Professor, not pictured, also attended.

Fourteen e-commerce retailers were finalists in five categories for prize packages worth a total of $1 million, including free shipping and direct marketing mail, among other prizes.The winners are:

Best Multi-channel Retailer of the Year – Large: Mountain Equipment Co-op (Vancouver, B.C.)
Best Multi-channel Retailer of the Year – Small: Rent frock Repeat (Toronto, Ont.)
Best Online Retailer of the Year – Large: Well.ca (Guelph, Ont.)
Best Online Retailer of the Year – Small: CharmJunction.ca (Langley, B.C.)
Outside the Box Achievement Award: Well.ca (Guelph, Ont.)
Best New E-business: ShirtPunch (Whitby, Ont.)
Consumer Champion Award (chosen by Canadians in an online vote): ShirtPunch (Whitby, Ont.)

The judges were Facebook Canada’s Managing Director, Jordan Banks; PayPal Canada’s Managing Director, Darrell MacMullin; Dr. Robert W. Helsley, Dean of the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia; Denyse Chicoyne, Corporate Director; Jacques Côté, Canada Post’s Physical Delivery Network Group President and Mr. René Desmarais, Senior Vice-President, Parcels.