Invitations and award nominations for Big Business of the Year, Small Business of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, and Citizen of the Year are going out this week for the Washington-Wilkes Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet in January.

The annual dinner is set for January 22, 2009, from 6:30-9 p.m. at The Pope Center. "We changed the annual banquet because of all the festivities in December," Chamber Director Ashley Barnett said. "We are excited for our annual meeting and the opportunity to recognize all of our Chamber members."

Chamber members will get the opportunity to vote on nominations for the annual awards. At the dinner, the Chamber board members will make awards for Big Business of the Year, Small Business of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, and Citizen of the Year.

The speaker for the event is Clay Smith, General Council and Vice President of Georgia System Operation Control Center (GSOC), an arm of the EMC cooperative, Barnett said.

Tickets for the event are available from the Washington-Wilkes Chamber of Commerce.