By Lookout Staff

January 29, 2015--A record-breaking 54 nominations have been received for the 2015 Santa Monica Sustainable Quality Awards (SQA), a milestone in 20-year history of the awards, officials announced Wednesday.

“People are becoming more and more aware of the SQA and the growing movement toward sustainability,” said spokesperson Shannon Parry about the reason so many nominations were received for this year.

The SQA winners will be announced in March and formally recognized at the 20th Annual Sustainable Quality Awards luncheon on April 16 at the Le Meridien Delfina Hotel in Santa Monica.

A total of 124 businesses earning 160 awards have been recognized since the program’s launch in 1995. The number of awards varies from year to year.

The awards were created to recognize businesses in the Santa Monica area that successfully incorporate sustainable practices into their operations and to encourage others to follow suit.

 Nominations can be submitted by any interested party and for any Santa Monica area business.

Awards are based on three components: being profitable while using sustainable practices that save on water, energy and reduced waste hauled to landfills; reducing the environmental footprint and demonstrating social responsibility, Parry said.

Social responsibility can include offering particularly generous benefits packages or allowing employees to do volunteer work while on the clock. Patagonia Inc., for example, is a past winner for allowing workers to volunteer in the local community while on the job.

The Grand Prize is awarded for combined excellence in the three areas. Excellence awards are given to businesses in any one of the three areas.

Last year’s SQA Grand Prize winners were Perry’s at the Beach and Phelps.