Who will win? 40 Aviva Community Fund finalists compete for $1,000,000 prize

Judging round now begins; winners to be announced January 27, 2015

TORONTO, Dec. 17, 2014 /CNW/ - After four rounds and more than 1.4 million votes, Aviva Canada, one of the country's leading providers of home, auto, leisure and business insurance, is pleased to announce the finalists of the 2014 Aviva Community Fund.  To view the 40 finalists, visit avivacommunityfund.org

"The ideas in this year's competition are very inspiring and represent initiatives that will benefit Canadians in communities across the country," said Debora Hendrickson, Senior Vice President Customer & Marketing at Aviva Canada. "We now rely on the expertise and insight of our panel of impartial judges."

The 2014 Aviva Community Fund judges include: President and CEO of Volunteer Canada Paula Speevak; President and CEO of March of Dimes Canada Andria Spindel; President and CEO of United Way Centraide Canada Dr. Jacline Abray-Nyman; retired National Women's Hockey Team player Tessa Bonhomme and author and journalist Bruce Sellery. The judges will review the ideas to decide which projects will receive full funding.

For a complete list of judges, visit AvivaCommunityFund.org/about/judges. Winners will be announced January 27, 2015 on CTV's Canada AM.

Each of the 40 finalists is eligible to receive the full amount for which they applied. Every finalist not selected for full funding will receive $5,000 towards their cause, which may have to be directed towards a registered charity or established group doing similar work in their community.

This year's competition also introduced a Wildcard prize, in which ideas that earned 1,000 votes or more in each round were eligible. As a result, 60 wildcard winning ideas will receive $1,000 each toward the charity associated with their idea. Wildcard winners will be announced on January 20, 2015.

Created in 2009, the Aviva Community Fund is a competition that asks Canadians to submit and vote for ideas that create positive change in their communities. The Aviva Community Fund enables individuals and groups to submit an initiative for funding and become actively involved in making change happen. The Fund has already provided more than $4.5 million in funding to 91 charities and community groups.

Connect with the Aviva Community Fund through the competition's Facebook and Twitter pages.

About Aviva Canada
Aviva Canada is one of the leading Property and Casualty insurance groups in Canada providing home, automobile, recreational vehicle, group and business insurance to more than three million customers. The Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UK-based Aviva plc and has more than 3,000 employees, 25 locations and 1,700 independent broker partners. Aviva Canada and its employees invest in positive change including through the Aviva Community Fund and Eva's Initiatives, its partner in Aviva's global Street to School program to help homeless and other at-risk youth reach their potential.

For more information visit AvivaCanada.com, our blog or our Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages.

SOURCE: Aviva Canada Inc.

Alison Steele, Manager, B2B Communications, Aviva Canada Inc., Desk: 416 730 3931, Mobile: [phone], [email protected]