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Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) last week recognised more than 150 employees and nine recent retirees for dedicated service during the agency's Employee Awards Ceremony.The annual event, held on February 10 at the JCA's corporate office on King Street in Kingston, is a part of the agency's thrust to ensure that employees are recognised for excellent work in advancing national development through border protection, trade facilitation and equitable revenue collection. It is also held in observation of International Customs Day, as a part of a week of activities.For the second consecutive year Damean Beckford, manager, Entry Processing Unit, took the coveted Employee of the Year Award. He was among nine employees who were nominated and short-listed in this category.Celia Russell-Henry, project manager, ISO Project Team, Western Operations; and Javon Brooks, an image interpreter, were the runners-up."When you take into consideration that the JCA has almost 1,400 employees, and to be selected out of such a large group it tells me that there is confidence in my abilities, and for that I'm truly grateful," a company released quotes Beckford.⁣He said he was grateful to be recognised among so many hard-working colleagues and credited his success to his passion for making an impact.⁣"If I'm leading a team or dealing with customers, you must be better off based on any interactions we've had," added Beckford, who also copped the Special Award for Occupational Safety Star.Other individual awardees were Winston Gray Jr, who won the Wellness Champion Award, which recognises commitment to the promotion of health and holistic well-being; Biola Hardware, who won the Philanthropy/Social Responsibility Award; and Tamara Archer Reid, who took the award for Positive Public Relations, having curated JCA's LinkedIn page and driving the agency's public engagement on that platform.World Customs Organisation/Commissioner's Awards were presented to 20 individuals in the categories of Service Excellence Ambassador, Stakeholder Engagement, Change Agent, Innovation, Agency Brand Ambassador and ICT Transformation.Director or Research and Planning Earl Stewart Jr was honoured with the World Customs Organisation Thematic Focus Award for 'driving a data culture and building a data ecosystem'.The Customs team at Port Handler's Warehouse in Montego Bay was named Team Builders/Unit of the Year for consistently promoting and maintaining team spirit, while Brenton Clarke, Peter Coombs, and Dervan Dale Taylor were recognised for their contributions to the agency's virtual productions.⁣Group awards were presented to the Tameka Goulbourne-led Corporate Social Responsibility Committee in recognition of their successful coordination of the JCA's tablet drive, which saw employees making donations of cash and kind to support students in two public schools.Among the retirees honoured were Customs Officer Sonia Duncan, who served for 40 years, Leonard Pitt for 33 years, and Ian Johnson for 32 years.Long Service Awards were presented to 14 employees for 30 years' service, 22 for 25 years' and 21 who have served for 20 years, as at December 31, 2021.Addressing the ceremony, CEO/Commissioner Velma Ricketts Walker assured employees that the JCA values their work.⁣"I want to say thank you to all the JCA employees for the outstanding work they have done over the years," she said. "It is particularly hard to select winners of these awards, because the team members here at the JCA continue to raise the scale higher each year."