Eight family businesses honored Wednesday night

Eight family-owned businesses were honored Wednesday night during the first Delaware Family Business Awards dinner, sponsored by Today Media and Delaware Business Times.

Family and friends attended the event held in Wilmington to honor multigenerational, family owned businesses based in Delaware. Final awards were handed out to these Delaware businesses.

• Small Size Business of the Year: A.R. Morris Jewelers

• Medium Size Business of the Year: EDiS

• Large Size Business of the Year: MDavis & Sons

• The Community Service Award is given to that business which shows excellence in its level of community service: Janssens Market

• The Customer Service Award is given to that business which shows excellence in dealing with customer service. The 2015 award is presented to Joseph Frederick and Sons.

• The Innovation and Technology Award is given to that business that is doing something different or modernizing their operations to better serve their customers and clients. The 2015 award is presented to Data Management International.

• The Emerging Family Business Award is given to the business that is showing remarkable growth or market share. The 2015 award is presented to Delaware Brick.

• The Legacy Business Award is presented to a multi-generational company that is continuing to involve all family members actively in its daily operations, and has had an overall impact on Delaware and the business community. This category finished in a tie, and two companies were presented the award EDiS and The Insurance Market

Profiles of all the nominees are here.

A panel of judges that included members of the business community and Today Media executives selected 13 finalists. Family involvement, succession planning, ethics and innovation were primary factors that we considered.  Judges also looked for active community service.