Last week the Cypress Hills Destination Area was named finalists for three awards by Tourism Saskatchewan.

The three Tourism Saskatchewan Awards include the Fred Heal Tourism Ambassador Award (Destination Marketing Organization - Executive Director, Gail Kesslar), Tourism Employee of the Year Award (Finance Manager, Kristine Scheller), and the Gil Carduner Marketing Award.

Winners of the Gil Carduner Marketing Award in 2014, the CHDA has now been named finalists for ten Tourism Saskatchewan Awards in the last three years.

"You think you're doing okay and you think you're plugging along," Kesslar told Swift Current Online. "To get recognized by your peers and your industry is just fantastic."

Kesslar, the winner of the Tourism Ambassador Award in 2014 presented by STEC, has been named as a finalist for the Fred Heal Tourism Ambassador Award for the first time.

"I really love the area that I represent and I really like the fact that I can be out there helping people connect with this area," she added. "Whether a business looking to start up and looking to offer something, or whether they're visitors looking for information. The fact that I love what I do and I'm being recognized for that is pretty nice."

She explained that's wonderful to have amazing natural spaces such as Grasslands National Park, Eastend and Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park but the amenities are just as valuable.

"If you don't have the services and businesses to support those places, nobody can visit," Kesslar stated. "To have these great businesses that are starting up with new initiatives and new innovation, and are always pushing themselves. It means that people now have the opportunity to visit these amazing places because there are services there for them."

Eight of the 33 award finalists are from the southwest corner of the province.

The hardware for the 12 Saskatchewan Tourism Awards will be handed out at the 28th annual Saskatchewan Tourism Awards of Excellence Gala, on April 5 at the Sheraton Cavalier Saskatoon Hotel.