Have we got a deal for you.

• Position: Deal of the Year awards given by Financial Executives Institute - From FEI

If you're plugged into your community's business grapevine, you probably hear about some innovative deals, many of which are good for the local economy. In fact, the need to recognize and foster these beneficial business deals led two FEI chapters to create "Deal of the Year" awards. Under both the Hawaii and San Diego programs, chapter members select the nominees, evaluate them and present a representative from the winning company with a plaque at an honorary dinner.

Paul Henigin, a member of the Hawaii Chapter, says he modeled the idea partly on the state's Better Business Bureau company-of-the-year award. "Financial executives work hard to make difficult things happen, but often the mechanics of their actions don't get much attention. The Deal-of-the-Year award is a way to recognize those contributions and to get attention and exposure for FEI," he explains.

Right now, the chapter's award committee of three people is trying to decide between two candidates -- a real-estate developer that's working on a shopping center to attract discount retailers, which Hawaii has traditionally had a hard time doing, and a company that's buying out a sugar cooperative and thus extending the life of the sugar industry in the state. One committee member, John Karbens, is a finance professor at Hawaii Pacific University and is enlisting his students' help in making the final evaluation. Based on the background material on the two candidates, the students write papers explaining which one deserves the award and why. "Pulling in the educational process is the key," Henigin says. "This way we have a structure of motivated people to do the analysis, and that helps ensure you don't get embarrassed. Plus, it gives the students some real-world experience."

Of course, the committee is the final arbiter, and it's developed certain standards for the award, which will be presented in mid-November. First, the transaction or deal must be identifiable as a discrete transaction that can be analyzed with concrete data. Also, the deal must be beneficial to the Hawaiian economy. "That screens out creative deals that aren't necessarily in the public interest," Henigin says. The principal people involved in the deal must be willing to make financial information easily accessible to the committee and the students. The committee also will favor candidates that it believes will help it promote the award. "We want to enhance the image of the financial profession, so the award...