Hawaii got some nice ink in Successful Meetings magazine, a trade publication for meetings, incentive and group travel professionals.

The magazine’s 2010 Pinnacle Awards celebrate hospitality excellence among convention and visitor bureaus (CVBs), hotels and conference centers. The 72,000 readers of the magazine choose winners by voting online and providing feedback based on professional experiences.

The Maui Visitors Bureau is among 11 CVBs the magazine highlighted, while the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau was among 51 additional winners in one international and four U.S. regional categories.

This is Maui’s sixth win, while HVCB is an 18-time winner in the Western region.

Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa is among the 32 featured hotel-and-resort winners. There were seven more Hawaii winners among the 84 additional awardees.

The Makena Beach & Golf Resort reprised a 2007 win, joining two-time winners Turtle Bay Resort, its sister-resort, and Maui’s Wailea Beach Marriott Resort & Spa.

The Kahala Hotel & Resort and the Moana Surfrider, a Westin Resort & Spa, have placed on the list three times, while the Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort, has been listed seven times, and the Sheraton Waikiki Resort has won the award 23 times.

Notably absent is the Hawai’i Convention Center. However, readers of Facilities & Destinations magazine, published by a different company, have voted for it so enthusiastically that it has received eleven consecutive Prime Site Awards.

Latin group seeks donors, nominations

Latin Business Hawaii, a chamber of commerce organization, is looking for donors and nominations for two different reasons.

The donations are for its Keiki-to-Kollege Scholarship Awards, which presents scholarships not only for college, but to 3- and 4-year-olds, for preschool.

"It was actually Mari’s idea," said Jose Villa, LBH co-founder and director. Mari is his wife, LBH president and also a co-founder. The organization’s monthly mixers were generating more revenue than LBH needed for operations, so she suggested a scholarship fund not just for Oahu’s college kids, but for keiki, as "Hispanics have among the lowest rates of preschool registration in the country," Villa said.

"There’s just so much need, and this is one way that we can help a little bit," he said.

Nine $250 preschool scholarships and six $500 college scholarships were presented last year to Hispanic students on Oahu.

Donors are encouraged to attend the awards ceremony to personally make the presentation. "It’s such a beautiful thing," said Villa.

LBH is also accepting nominations for its annual Hawaii Hispanic Achievement Awards. The awards recognize excellence and achievement by civilian or military Hispanics in the islands.

Winners thus far have all been from Oahu and have included former state legislator and PHOCUSED President Alex Santiago; Ray Cruz, longtime volunteer host of "Sabor Tropical" on Hawaii Public Radio; and entertainer and recording artist Rolando Sanchez.

This year "we wanted to open it up because there’s some people on the neighbor islands that are doing some great work," Villa said.

The nomination deadline is Sept. 7.

Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Advertiser. Reach her by e-mail at erika@staradvertiser.com.