2016 RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - March 24, 2016) - Canadian Immigrant magazine has kicked off the online voting for the eighth annual RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards. The awards program recognizes and celebrates the inspiring stories of Canadian immigrants who have made a significant contribution to Canada. The program has a national presence and is proudly supported by title sponsor RBC Royal Bank.

Over the last seven years, more than 200,000 Canadians have participated through voting on who they think should win. Past winners have represented diverse fields from across the country and have included: business leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, academics, community volunteers, sports heroes, philanthropists, inventors and visionaries. Their reasons, circumstances and timing for coming to Canada are as varied as their backgrounds -- some fled strife in their home countries, while others chose to gain higher education; some arrived as young children, while others arrived as adults with only a few hundred dollars in their pocket.

No matter their roots, each of the winners' stories shares a common thread: an individual rose to a challenge and used that opportunity to make Canada a better place for all. This year is no different.

"The Top 75 shortlist is full of inspirational immigrants who are all deserving of recognition. It's now the public's turn to vote for their favourite 25. We invite all our readers to vote and help us determine who we should honour as the RBC Top 25 Canadian immigrants of 2016," said Margaret Jetelina, editor, Canadian Immigrant magazine.

A judging panel composed of past winners reviewed the hundreds of nominations received. These entries were narrowed to a shortlist of 75 finalists who represent diverse ethnic communities, cities and industries across Canada.

"The RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant awards were created to recognize the efforts of truly inspirational individuals," said Christine Shisler, director, Multicultural Markets, RBC. "Each year, we receive hundreds of nominations, and now we're looking for the Top 25 whose contributions to Canada and their drive to make a difference in the community stands out above others. Already the short list is impressive, so make sure to use your voice to vote for these extraordinary people who are making a difference for all of us."

The public can now vote for up to three of their favourite finalists online at www.canadianimmigrant.ca/rbctop25 until May 13, 2016.

Title sponsor RBC will also recognize one of the 25 winners who demonstrate excellence in business with the RBC Entrepreneur Award.

The award winners will be announced on June 21, 2016. They will be recognized on www.canadianimmigrant.ca and in Canadian Immigrant magazine. Each winner will also receive a commemorative plaque and $500 toward a charity of their choice provided by RBC. This year's media partners are the Toronto Star, Metro, CBC Toronto, Sing Tao and South Asian Focus.

About Canadian Immigrant and canadianimmigrant.ca
Attracting more than 400,000 readers each month and over 100,000 visitors every month online, Canadian Immigrant is distributed in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary and helps new Canadians build a successful life and home in Canada. Our mandate to arrive, succeed and inspire- provides content for newcomers looking for information on careers, education and settling-in to culture and business. Our website, canadianimmigrant.ca, offers daily editorial, forums, tools and resources to help newcomers across Canada. Canadian Immigrant is a division of Metroland Media Group Limited, a dynamic media company with more than 100 community and daily newspapers in print and online, as well as innovative websites including wheels.ca, goldbook.ca, flyerland.ca, Travelalerts.ca and localwork.ca.

ABOUT RBC
Royal Bank of Canada is Canada's largest bank, and one of the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. We are one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor services and capital markets products and services on a global basis. We have over 80,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 37 other countries. For more information, please visit rbc.com.‎

RBC helps communities prosper, supporting a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments, sponsorships and employee volunteer activities. In 2015, we contributed more than $100 million to causes around the world.