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Get Your ING-On In Alberta! ​
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Awards & Media
Sheila Willis, the Administrative Manager for the Travel-ING On Tourism Cooperative, was the creator of the Travel-ING On Mobile App. It was originally released in 2017 as the History Check app, and included northern Alberta. In 2019 it expanded Alberta wide.
Sheila Willis, and the app have received numerous awards and mentions. With Sheila's participation on our team we look forward to her creative ideas that will continue to implement cutting edge projects and ideas our members.
Since its inception, our travel and heritage app has been an award winner, and has been recognized in a variety of ways. The following includes some of these awards and mentions.
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In 2018 Sheila Willis was one of three people recognized for making exceptional and long-term contributions to the preservation and presentation of Alberta's history.
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Sheila's quest to share northern Alberta history with children in classrooms.
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Her focus on combining tourism and history to encourage others to come north of Edmonton, including to Smith.
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Alberta's first Geocaching tour was created by Sheila in 2014, Smith's centennial year. She wrote 100 stories of the area history and combined them with caches hidden to encourage people to explore the area.
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She also discovered artifacts and provided them to the Royal Alberta Museum and the Glenbow Archives.
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"Sheila spearheaded the development and marketing of the History Check mobile app to launch in less than 1,000 days with 300+ communities recognized and 1,500 sites published and counting." It was in 2019 that the app was made Alberta wide.
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Other factors contributing to the receipt of this award were:
Northern Trailblazers -From Northern Alberta Development Council (NADC)
"The Northern Trailblazers project shpowcases best practives and innovations being undertaken throughout the NADC region. Innovations in program delivery, collaborative partnerships, and technology applications were shared with NADC and have been summarized to raise awareness of the unique and innovative approaches to social, community, and economic development happening in the north."
In October 2019 the History Check App was mentioned as one of these projects. To read the artlcle click here.
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Marketing Award Growing Rural Tourism (2019)​
In 2019 Sheila was scheduled to be a break-out speaker at the Growing Rural Tourism conference in Camrose. Upon arrival she was asked if she miinded changing speaking spots and after agreeing found herself on the main stage presenting the History Check app to over 200 people in the heritage and tourism industries.
Later, at the gala an dinner and awards, it was a shock to hear her name announced as the receiient of the Marketing Award; she had no idea she was nominated. BNeing a little shocked, she fell up the stairs as she went to receive her waward. - Funny Story.
"During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sheila realized that the truck drivers and couriers were having trouble finding places to stop so they could eat and use the restroom. She quickly adapted the scope of the app to address this problem and started including listings for open washrooms, food services and facilities. She has worked countless hours hours updating the app so that drivers can find reliable amenities.
Sheila's nominator writes: "The impact this has had on the truckers in not measurable. Sheila saw a need and with little thought to the work it entailed, she made it happen."
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Recognition by Premier Jason Kenney with the Alberta wide expansion of History Check
In the Local Legend contest Sheila was in the top 45 of 545 national entrants,. While she did not make it to the top 10 she was the Local Legend for the Slave Lake region.
Other Awards & Mentions
AWE Nominations
Arnold Vierson - Certificate
Danielle Larivee - Certificate
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