• Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum: Is a winner in the 2015 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice awards for museums, ranking 11 out of 25 in the nation. The Desert Museum carries a TripAdvisor rating of 5 out of 5 and is recognized on the TripAdvisor site as No. 1 of “218 Things To Do In Tucson.” Earlier this year, The Desert Museum was inducted into the new TripAdvisor Hall of Fame for receiving its Certificate of Excellence for five consecutive years.
• Old Tucson: Has been nominated as a contender for Best Theme Park Halloween Event in the nation in the latest 10 Best Readers’ Choice travel award contest. The contest, promoted by USA Today, allows people to vote once a day through Oct. 12 at http://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-theme-park-halloween-event/ Winners will be announced Oct. 16.
• Closing Your Books LLC: The Tucson small business, owned by Lozelle Mathai, has been named among 25 finalists in the Wells Fargo Works Project national contest. Five grand-prize winners will be selected to receive $25,000 along with mentorship from a small business expert and tailored solutions for their business.
• Dr. Rifat Latifi: The trauma surgeon in the University of Arizona Department of Surgery received the 2015 American College of Surgeons/Pfizer Surgical Volunteerism Award for his work on establishing telemedicine and e-health programs in underdeveloped nations, especially those recovering from conflict and in need of major rebuilding of their health-care systems. Latifi’s telemedicine program began in Kosovo in 2000.
• Mesch, Clark & Rothschild, P.C.: Seven of its lawyers were listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2016: Emery Barker, Douglas Clark, Mel Cohen, Richard Davis, Michael McGrath, Fred Petersen and Lowell Rothschild.
• Dr. Christopher Maloney Jr.: Maloney, of Maloney Plastic Surgery & Skincare, has been voted by his peers for inclusion in America’s Best Doctors for the 10th straight year.
• Tucson Airport Authority: For the 20th consecutive year, the authority received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada.
