Does your company have a green thumb? Greenrock has announced its second annual Green Workplace Awards competition as part of an effort to highlight small and large businesses’ environmental and sustainability efforts.Launched for the first time last year, the charity’s Green Workplace Awards (GWAs) will once again be accepting entries with the addition of two new categories, Government and Schools, opening up the participation of any Government-occupied building or school body to demonstrate their sustainability initiatives.“Overall, our message is that any employee in any building can encourage their business to take part and use the Green Workplace Awards competition as a way to start practising ‘green’ initiatives for the Performance period in April and May,” said Greenrock president Dr Judith Landsberg. “The actions taken and the results from that are likely to be surprising. Most people are amazed at what they can achieve in such a short time frame.”Winners of the annual GWAs are featured in an exclusive spread in the December issue of Bottom Line magazine.The complete 2012 GWA categories, include, Building Manager, Government, Hospitality, Owner-Occupier, Retail, Tenant and School.The Green Champion category will also remain and be part of the GWAs, recognising an individual who has put in outstanding effort to reduce the environmental impact of their company.Last year’s Green Workplace Awards winners were Victoria Place Management Ltd (Building Manager), Rosewood Tucker’s Point (Hospitality), Ace (Owner-Occupier), Hiscox (Tenant) and Lindo’s Group of Companies (Retail).“The response to last year’s launch of the Green Workplace Awards was a positive one and as a result of participants’ and judges’ feedback, we’re pleased to include Schools and Government-occupied buildings as categories,” said Dr Landsberg.Dr Landsberg added that her organisation wanted to engage Government employees due to the goals outlined in the Energy White Paper but also because there are many Government employees “passionately committed to reducing waste and conserving” Bermuda’s resources.“There are approximately 5,000 Government employees in various buildings old and new where steps can be made to reinforce energy savings and sustainability measures,” she said. “Such steps may include how staff travel to work, use paper, turn off computers and lights at the end of the day, use recycling bins on office floors and so on.”Schools will also have a chance to show their green skills, as schools are deemed workplaces for its faculty.“Whether a school has broad policies that affect every teacher and classroom, or if it’s one teacher or class spearheading the bulk of green initiatives, then a school’s efforts can be recognised via this new category in the Green Workplace Awards,” said Dr Landsberg.Following the entry (statement of intent) deadline, businesses will undergo a performance period in April and/or May to compile and submit information demonstrating efforts of reduced energy consumption and other ‘green’ behaviours in the workplace. Winners will be selected by a judging panel in June and announced in The Bottom Line in December.The statements of intent must be submitted before or on Friday, March 30. All final submissions, including performance data, are to be submitted before or on Friday, June 15.Persons nominated for the Green Champion award must be submitted before or on Friday, June 1. The 2012 entry form is available from Greenrock’s website at www.greenrock.org. You can also go to the website to find ideas on how to motivate your co-workers and where to start in making your workplace ‘greener’.