Roar!

From community impact to mentorship distinction, Calgary's real estate community honoured some of the city's most exceptional REALTORS® at the second annual ROAR Awards this past weekend.

At this year's event, which was held at TELUS Spark, and emceed by Canadian comedienne and actress Jessica Holmes, five exceptional REALTORS® took home hardware in categories that included Marketing Excellence, Mentorship Distinction, Community Impact, Commitment to Education, along with the award for People's REALTOR®.

"It's humbling to think that people took time out of their busy lives [to nominate me]. It's really an honour," said Leisa Fuller of Century 21 PowerRealty.ca, who took home the award for the People's Realtor®.

The award, which is voted on by the public, is given to an individual who consistently goes above and beyond to deliver exemplary customer service to clients.

"Every client that hires doesn't have to – they decide to. And they pay us to do a job that I really love. I just can't imagine doing anything else," said Fuller.

With more than 140 nominations for this year's awards, ROAR committee chair Robyn Hauck said picking the winners wasn't an easy process. Nominations came from the public, in the case of the People's Realtor® award, or REALTORS®, in the case of the other four categories. Winners were eventually screened, interviewed and selected by sub-committees consisting of REALTORS®, past winners and community liaisons.

"At the end of the day, the people we selected were clearly the top performers who consistently went beyond what's expected to excel, inspire, give back and help others succeed," said Hauck. "This is what the ROARs are all about and what it means to be among the best in real estate.

"The winners are examples of what clients look for in a REALTOR®: professional, reliable, courteous and committed to providing the best possible experience. We were so impressed with all the nominees this year. They've all worked hard to deliver outstanding results for their clients and the ROAR Awards made sure their efforts didn't go unnoticed."

Lindsey Smith of CIR Realty took home the Commitment to Education Award for his devotion to professional development, commitment to sharing new concepts, teaching and for encouraging others.

"I think education for me is something that is a bit of a selfish pursuit, because those of you who are mentors and are giving back know that in order to teach someone you have to learn the stuff so in depth yourself that you become so much better," he said.

Milton Brandson of Century 21 PowerRealty.ca walked away with the award for Community Impact for his involvement with the Rotary Club of Airdrie, among other local commitments, for the past three decades.

"I think volunteering for me is not about a specific program or project but an accumulation of 35 years of small service in small ways," he said.

Singling out the REALTOR®  who uses creativity to take their brand to the next level, the Marketing Excellence award recognized Chris Mulders of CIR Realty. The Airdrie-born-and-raised REALTOR®  is behind www.airdrie360.com, which regularly features neighbourhood posts, videos, photos and real estate market reports.

"In addition to helping me grow my business, [marketing] has really let me meet some incredible people and do some good in my community," said Mulders.

Robyn Moser of CIR Realty was honoured for actively transfering her knowledge and good working habits to the next generation.

"My mentors were the people who probably didn't even know it," she said.

"And for me, that was a big thing. We've all made impacts in our community and our industry to people in our industry, and we have no idea that we've done these amazing things and made someone want to be better, drive to be better and strive to be better and even to see the possibility to be better."

For more information about the ROAR Awards, visit www.roarawards.com.