Welcome to the BBPA Harry Jerome Awards. We recognize and uphold the excellence of Black professionals and trailblazers, while showing the broader community that they too can rule the world.
2024 HJA
Nominations Now Open
The BBPA Harry Jerome Award, presented by TD has been the blueprint for the recognition and reward of Black Excellence in Canada. For the past 41 years, we have been committed to promoting the narrative of Black success, perseverance and excellence despite the challenges that our community continues to face. As we begin a new year, we welcome the exciting opportunity to celebrate the excellence of selected Black professionals, community members, and social champions!
The award categories include but are not limited to leadership, sports, technology, business, diversity, arts and entrepreneurship. These nominees and eventual recipients model what success, accomplishment, social awareness and excellence means despite working most times, in the shadows.
We invite you to sieze this opportunity to recognize members of our community and within your networks, who have made a unique difference in the society, through your nominations. You also have the opportunity to nominate yourself, should you meet the eligibility criteria. Whether nominees are blazing the trail in the field of science, innovation, business, art, leadership, or diversity, you have the power to shed some light on their work so they can be celebrated. These nominees give us the hope and motivation to continue to strive for excellence and a better future for our community and the next generation.
Nominations for the 2024 BBPA Harry Jerome Awards must be received by the deadline December 31st, 2023 at 11:59 pm.
2023 Recipients
Volunteers
The Black Business and Professionals Association is seeking volunteers for the 2024 BBPA Harry Jerome Awards scheduled to happen on April 27, 2024, at The Beanfield Centre, Exhibition Place – 105 Princes’ Blvd, Toronto, ON M6K 3C3. Our success over the years has been largely due to our amazing volunteers and as we plan to host the 42nd BBPA Harry Jerome Award, we also know our volunteers will play a huge role in making it a success.
If you would like to join a host of other phenomenal volunteers, please click the button below to register. Once registered, you will be trained and given your volunteer kits to set you up for success. For more information, please email volunteer@bbpa.org.
2023 Partners
Our sincere gratitude of thanks to all our partners. Your support is much appreciated.
FAQ
A premiere track athlete of his time, his physical successes were partnered with scholastic excellence and social consciousness. Apart from his athletics he earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees and was always conscious of the challenges facing African Canadians. He obtained equipment for young athletes who could not afford the expensive gear, created opportunities for Blacks outside the sports arena, and was a vocal opponent of the misrepresentation of African Canadians in Canadian television and wage discrimination barriers. Harry Jerome took on the concerns of a community, a country, epitomizing excellence, determination and dedication.
The Black Business and Professional Association is a non profit, charitable organization that addresses equity and opportunity for the Black community in business, employment, education and economic development.
The BBPA sponsors the annual Harry Jerome Awards, a national awards event that recognizes and honours excellence in achievement and supports higher education through the BBPA National Scholarship Fund.
The Harry Jerome Awards is a fundraiser that celebrates achievement in the Black community and supports the BBPA’s work in promoting the advancement of the Black-Canadian community, in the areas of Education, Economic & Entrepreneurial Development and Young Professional Training & Development.
As a non-profit organization, the BBPA needs to garner funds to support the BBPA National Scholarships, and deliver programs that support business and professional excellence, higher education and economic development.
This award ceremony is to showcase, recognize, and honor excellence within the African- Canadian community, to profile African Canadian Professionals, and to create a path to continue replicating these practices in the African-Canadian community.
Testimonials
Being at the HJA Ceremony was really inspiring seeing all the other business owners and hearing their stories, especially the recipients. I know that I have my work cut out for me but I’m equal to the task; the best is yet to come for Deer Quality Services Inc. & Taste Jamaica.
Once again, thank you guys for inviting me to such an illustrious event. It was great seeing you all and it was great to network with other like minded individuals.
Ainsley SJ Deer
I just wanted to say a big big thank you for the Harry Jerome tickets. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t make connections with people or have the opportunity to experience being at an event with black successful people. Not to mention, I want to go back next year, the year after that and the so on.
Hopefully one day I’ll be there wining a award as well.
Thank you so much and have a wonderful day.