The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce honored local businesses with SAGE Awards during the organization’s annual gala Friday night at Mohegan Pennsylvania in Plains Twp.

The Scranton Awards for Growth & Excellence (SAGE) recognize local businesses for their talent, creativity and innovation. The chamber received nearly 80 applications and a team of nearly 40 volunteers scored the applications, officials said.

The winners were: Business of the Year, Mount Airy Casino Resort; Community Involvement Excellence, The Wright Center for Community Health; Customer Service Excellence, Geisinger/Geisinger Community Medical Center; Marketing and Communications Excellence, Market Share Consulting; New and Emerging Business of the Year, Pelican’s SnoBalls; Nonprofit Organization of the Year, CHOP Out Hunger; People’s Choice, Northeast Title & Tag Inc.; Products and Services Excellence, Ski Shack; Small Business of the Year, Lynn Sandy’s Bakery; and Workplace Excellence, JHA Companies.

Bethany Staples, CEO and owner of Market Share Consulting in Olyphant, encourages small business owners to take advantage of the services offered through membership with the chamber.

“What you put in at the chamber, you tend to get back out,” she said. “It’s a very mutually beneficial relationship. We’ve gotten so much brand recognition and so much support from the local community. There are so many unique opportunities to market yourself and get brand recognition that costs nothing as a benefit of your membership.”

This year, Market Share Consulting won the Marketing and Communications Excellence Award for its campaign to raise awareness for Valley in Motion’s “The Office 5K” race, Staples said. The event had substantial growth due to the company’s marketing efforts, she said.

“They had about 250 registrations in Season One and about 300 in Season Two,” Staples said. “In Season Three, after we got involved and created them a website and social media accounts and started community involvement, everything kind of went viral and they had more than 1,500 registrations from all over the world.”

The business also won the award in 2022 for the “Love Your Selfie” campaign it produced for Electric City Dentistry, which provided a big boost to the new firm, Staples said. The company, located inside the Rock Creek Corporate Center, opened in 2022.

“Things just kind of exploded for us,” Staples said. “The recognition was phenomenal, so to take home an award again this year was huge.”

Robert Cohowicz, co-owner of Pelican’s SnoBalls in Moosic which opened on Birney Avenue in July 2023, expressed his thanks to the loyal customers who helped get the store off the ground.