The Ontario government announced the finalists for this year's edition of the Ontario Global Traders Regional Awards on Friday, with half of the nominees hailing from Ottawa.

The awards, presented by provincial trade agency Ontario Exports Inc., honours Ontario's top small- to medium-sized exporters, business leaders and students.

Winners for the eastern Ontario edition of the awards will be announced at a ceremony on March 27 at the Corel Centre. Ontario Exports defines eastern Ontario as the region from Kingston to the Quebec border and north past Renfrew.

Other regional awards ceremonies for central Ontario will be held in April in Hamilton, London and Sudbury. In all the awards divide the province into 12 regions. The top exporters from each region will go on to compete for the provincial awards to be announced in Toronto on May 14.

Ontario is often regarded as the engine of the Canadian economy, due largely to a huge motor vehicle industry. Exports account for more than 40 per cent of Canada's gross domestic product and more than half of the country's exports come from Ontario.

Finalists for the eastern region awards are:

COMPANY AWARDS

* Cott Beverages Canada, Mississauga

* CPCS Transcom Limited, Ottawa

* E.T. Jackson and Associates Ltd., Ottawa

* EDUCOM TS Inc., Ottawa

* EMS Technologies Canada Ltd., Ottawa

* Gariba Development Associates, Accra, Ghana

* Iroquois Water Ltd., Cornwall Island

* Measurements International, Prescott

* National Research Council Canada, Institute for National Measurement Standards, Ottawa

* Phil-Insul Corporation, Kingston

* Precidia Technologies Inc., Ottawa

* Tulmar Safety Systems Inc., Hawkesbury

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

* Candice Bazinet, Blind River (University of Ottawa, Ottawa)

* Judy McLean, Iron Bridge (Sir Sanford Fleming College, Peterborough)

* Earl Spinks, Innisfil (Carleton University, Ottawa)

* Wang (Linus) Xianglin, Ottawa (University of Ottawa, Ottawa)