Awards and Scholarships

Recognizing the best and brightest in Trade & Logistics.

About our Awards

Every year, CIFFA honours our industry’s most outstanding members (and future members) with awards, scholarships and grants. These awards promote:

Learning Icon

Learning

Promote higher learning in international trade, logistics and commerce.
Awareness Icon

Awareness

Increase awareness of trade and logistics careers among children of CIFFA Regular Members’ employees.
Professionalism / Leadership Icon

Professionalism / Leadership

Recognition of the best and brightest in our industry.

  • Donna Letterio Award
  • George Kuhn Education Award
  • Job Nicolai Award
  • The Young Logistics Professionals Award

About the Donna Letterio Award

This award is granted annually in memory of CIFFA former President Donna Letterio, who passed away in August 2013. The award recognizes a woman in the global freight logistics sector who has demonstrated professionalism, commitment, leadership and a passion for excellence in her career and in her life, as Donna did.

The award is open to any woman in international freight forwarding, transportation or global logistics who demonstrates excellence in the following criteria.

Professionalism: Highlights of the candidate’s career. Emphasis should be placed on her education, training, designations and, perhaps most importantly, business accomplishments.

Commitment: How has the candidate demonstrated a commitment to the industry, her colleagues, her career, her customers or her family? She should provide examples from volunteer or mentorship activities, board appointments, community building or ideas that were implemented for success or family life.

Leadership: How has the candidate influenced others? Specific examples should show her as a boss, a role model, as an advocate for the industry or for a cause.

How to Enter

Applicants may be nominated by an employee of any CIFFA member firm or may self-nominate if employed by a CIFFA member. Applicants are not required to be employed by a CIFFA member.

The applications will be open every year from January 1st to March 10th and will be judged by a 5-person panel of directors from the CIFFA national board. The winner will be selected before May 1st of the award year.

The CIFFA national board of directors voted unanimously to present the annual winner an award and to provide a donation of $1,000 in the winner’s name to Bladder Cancer Canada.

For inquiries contact: admin@ciffa.com

Past winners

Christina Forth, Mass Logistik Inc.
2023
Janet Wallace, Air Canada
2023
Samara Millin, AIT Worldwide Logistics (Canada) Inc.
2022
Jamie Wiltse, Expeditors Canada Inc.
2021
Sylvie Vachon, President and CEO of the Montreal Port Authority
2020
Sally Richardson, Overseas Container Forwarding Inc.
2019
Lucia Pinheiro, A.P. Moller - Maersk
2018
Linda Marie Collier, Tri-Ad International Freight Forwarding Ltd.
2017
Kimberly Gallacher
2016

About the George Kuhn Education Award

The George Kuhn Education Award is presented to the students who have achieved the highest marks in the FIATA Diploma Course – Advanced Freight Services (Formerly the Advanced Certificate Courses). The highest grade is based on the completion of the Advanced Freight Services course. Consideration for this award is given to each region in Canada.

Mr. Kuhn was CIFFA’s President from 1982 to 1983 and CIFFA’s Executive Director from 1999 to 2006 after an accomplished career in the international transportation industry in his native Switzerland, later in England, France, United States and Japan. He pioneered the creation of the CIFFA education programs in the early 1980s, complete with the Dangerous Goods courses and various workshops. Mr. Kuhn passed away November 11, 2019, leaving a vast legacy in our industry.

About the Job Nicolai Award

The Job Nicolai Award is presented to select students enrolled directly with CIFFA who have achieved the highest average grade in the CIFFA Certificate Courses. The average grade is based on the combination of the International Transportation and Trade, and Essentials of Freight Forwarding courses. Consideration for this award is given to each region in Canada.

Mr. Job Nicolai was a Central Region Lecturer in the early 1990s before CIFFA e-learning was developed. To be able to offer education through correspondence to students outside the main learning centres, Mr. Nicolai came up with the idea of developing exercises to go along with each chapter in the CIFFA International Freight Forwarding Courses. When Mr. Nicolai died, CIFFA introduced the Job Nicolai Award in his honour.

About the THE YOUNG LOGISTICS PROFESSIONALS AWARD

Every year, FIATA organized and the TT Club sponsored the Young Logistics Professional Award to encourage and nurture passion of the young talents representing all sectors of the industry, whatever their specialization. In line with FIATA’s guidelines, every year CIFFA puts forward the best Canadian candidate to compete for this award. The competition advances in three stages:

Stage 1: the Canadian round – interested applicants:

  • Must be between 18 and 32 years of age.
  • Must submit a completed application form, verification of date of birth, and a recommendation letter from a senior manager via e-mail to ciffa@ciffa.com, by the end of September each year.
  • Must hold at least the CIFFA Certificate in International Freight Forwarding.
  • Must have at least 2 years of freight forwarding experience. This is not mandatory but preferred due to the complexity of the task.
After meeting all the above requirements, the applicants will receive the topic for a dissertation and instructions for its completion. The deadline for submitting the completed dissertation is mid-January. CIFFA’s panel of subject-matter experts mark all submitted dissertations and select an overall winner. The winner receives a CA $1,500.00 cash prize and a digital award that can be shared on social media.

Stage 2: the Regional round (Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia):

  • CIFFA submits the name of the Canadian winner to FIATA by mid-February.
  • The winner must now complete another dissertation and submit both dissertations to FIATA by mid-May.
  • The winner of the Regional round is announced by FIATA by early August.

Stage 3: the Global round – the four Regional winners:

  • Are invited to the FIATA Congress in the fall. Their registration fees and accommodation costs are covered by FIATA, and they receive US $1,000.00 towards their return air ticket.
  • Must prepare a 15-minute presentation on their dissertations and answer the judging panel’s questions.
The Global winner is announced after all four presentations are completed. The winner receives an international certificate, a trophy, one-week practical industry experience in Hong Kong, London or New Jersey, one-week academic training in the TT Club’s Head Office in London, and one-year free subscription to the International Transport Journal in English, French or German.

Past winners

Viktoriia Rudyk
2023
Karina Daniela Perez Perez (Global Winner)
2022
Georgina Alejandra Perez Perez
2021
Anastasia Gureeva
2020
Rachael van Harmelen
2019
Kendyl Baptiste
2018
Bradley Davis (Global Winner)
2017
Evgeny Kapustin
2016
Kaya Karakaya
2015
Douglas Whitlock
2014
Kal Petrov
2013
Salman Ali
2012
Paramjit Jandu
2011
Claudia Ramirez
2010
Claudia Milena Giraldo Sanchez
2009
Elvia Liliana Ordaz Huesca
2008
Siva Vankineni (Global Winner)
2007
Pamela Rooney
2006
Alicia Chin (Global Winner)
2005

About the CIFFA Scholarship program

The CIFFA Scholarship program is one way that we invest in the future of our industry. By funding promising students, our goal is to do the following:

Promote Learning Icon

Promote Learning

Promote higher learning in international trade, logistics and commerce.
Raise Awareness Icon

Raise Awareness

Increase awareness of freight forwarding as a career among children of CIFFA Regular Members’ employees.
Support Members Icon

Support Members

Support the children of CIFFA Regular Members’ employees in achieving higher learning designations.

Scholarships in the amount of $4,000 are awarded to two individuals each year. Applications are accepted between June and August each year. Winners are announced at the September National Board of Directors meeting.

Eligibility

  • Child, stepchild, grandchild, or person under the legal guardianship of a CIFFA Regular Member is good standing as of June 1st of the award year.
  • Letter from the parent’s employer certifying permanent full-time or permanent part-time employment of at least 20 hours/week, signed by an officer of the company.
  • Student entering any year of undergraduate or graduate studies at an accredited Canadian college or university.
  • Final high school/previous year’s transcripts showing marks as of June 30th of the award year.
  • Three letters of reference from employer, teacher, coach, charitable organization or other.
  • Resume outlining volunteer activities, interests, part-time work, etc.
  • Student enrolled in international trade, logistics or business course leading to a diploma or degree (in any year of study).
  • Submission of a 500-word essay entitled “The Value of Higher Education”.
  • Confirmation letter of acceptance from a post-secondary institution.

Past winners

Ms. Paola Munoz – Rhenus Logistics Canada
2023
Ms. Paola Munoz – Rhenus Logistics Canada
2022
Ms. Grace Gignac - Mantoria, Inc.
2020
Ms. Isha Patel - Livingston International
2020
Mr. Joshua Furtadoa
 - Schenker of Canada Limited
2019
Ms. Rebecca Hicks - 
Cole International
2019
Ms. Mansi Jigneshkumar Sheth
 - Kuehne + Nagel Ltd.
2018
Mr. Lance Leslie Pereira
 - Milgram International Shipping
2017
Mr. Nicholas Loffredi - Traffic Tech International Inc.
2016
Ms. Fathima Bushra Zaheer - Overseas Express Consolidators (Toronto) Inc.
2016
Mr. Richard Chu - Kuehne + Nagel Ltd.
2015
Ms. Shu Jin Zhao - Pentagon Freight services Canada Ltd.
2015
Ms. Lina Maria Alvarez Jaramillo - Kuehne + Nagel Ltd.
2014
Ms. Natalia Lazerevic - Milgram & Company Ltd.
2013
Ms. Kelsey Webb - Mathers Logistics
2012
Ms. Kristina Roche - PF Collins International Trade Solutions
2011
Ms. Fatin Ishraq Chowdhury - Kuehne + Nagel Ltd.
2010