INUVIK
Although there can only be one recipient of Spectacular NWT's Tourism Service Excellence Award, this year's winner insists that the award belongs to the entire community of Inuvik, not just her.

Presenter Loren McGinnis shakes hands with Jackie Challis after she receives the Spectacular NWT Tourism Service Award for her commitment to promoting Inuvik as a tourist destination. - photo courtesy of Taylor Giffin

"I felt really humbled but also I didn't feel like I really deserved the award," said Jackie Challis, who received the recognition earlier this month.

"(The award) is about service excellence and promoting Inuvik, but really Inuvik is a place where we all work together. I'm just part of team and part of a group of stakeholders that love the community and do pretty much whatever we can to promote it, both as a great place for residents to live but also for people to

come and experience."

Challis, who worked as the Town of Inuvik's tourism co-ordinator and community economic development manager from 2008 until October, received the award at a ceremony in Yellowknife earlier this month. She was speaking on a panel at Spectacular NWT's annual conference and had no idea she was even nominated.

"I was really shocked by it. I had no idea that was going on," she said.

"It's very humbling to receive that at a territorial level."

The Tourism Service Excellence Award is given to a "front-line employee" who provides a positive first impression to visitors to the territory and delivers "outstanding customer service," according to Spectacular NWT's nomination form.

Challis said she doesn't know who nominated her.

Grant Hood, senior administrative officer at the Town of Inuvik, was not that person but did say he was very proud to learn she had received the award.

"I think it was well deserved. She's done a lot of work on tourism for the whole area up here," he said, citing her passion for getting people to come and see this part of the world.

Challis was responsible for the town's communications relating to tourism, and organized the annual petroleum conference and the Sunrise Festival.

She also spearheaded the Arctic Market which happens in the summer.

According to Hood, the recognition is important for Inuvik.

"It shows that we're not just this little sleepy town up in the North that goes about our business," he said.

"We want people to know who we are and where we are. We are a place to come and see and we are an important part of this country."

Challis echoed this sentiment, and said tourism will be a driving force in ensuring that Inuvik continues to grow.

"Tourism is important for Inuvik because it's the one industry that's about storytelling, sharing who we are and what we have to offer the world," she said.

"It also allows - in terms of economic development - it's a new dollar, every dollar that a tourist brings in is a dollar we wouldn't otherwise see."

Challis is now a project co-ordinator for the community economic development arm of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, and continues to promote the North through her personal social media accounts, just as she always has.

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