Fusion starts Sunday, and the U.S Shopping Center MAXI Awards will be announced just a few days after that. By this time next week, these finalists will know if they’ve taken home the Gold and whether they’re headed to the Best of the Best. We can’t wait to find out.

We’ll look at just a few more finalists today. There are many more, and they’re all deserving. We wish we had time to cover them all. Hopefully you’ll be seeing them at Fusion.

PREIT is a finalist in Cause Marketing for The Gift of Music. It worked with the nonprofit Musicopia to organize a donation drive for musical instruments, sheet music, stands and other badly needed items to help young people with an interest enjoy the rather expensive art. The nonprofit reaches 75,000 students in about 150 schools, organizing programs for genres that aren’t often explored in school classes, like African and latin music.

Macerich is a finalist in the Sales Promotion category for The Great Denim Event. Timed to coincide with Back to School, the event asked shoppers to donate gently used (and likely outgrown) jeans to charity. In return, shoppers received a coupon book to help them with their Back-to-School shopping. Shoppers were also given tips on their best fit for jeans by representatives from local retailers.

Finally, Northgate is a finalist for Grand Opening, Expansion and Renovation for “Rediscovering Northgate.” After an 18-month renovation, Northgate held a celebration lasting two weekends, coinciding with the arrival of Santa and the lighting of the center’s Christmas tree.

Good luck, everyone! We hope to see you there.

Are you getting excited for Fusion? The Tactics Magazine team is looking forward to seeing you at Booth 337. In the meantime, let’s look at a couple more finalists for the U.S. Shopping Center MAXI Awards, which will be awarded on March 3rd, the final day of the conference.

The Arboretum of South Barrington made a difference in the category of Cause Marketing last year. Its “Arboretum ‘Uncorked’” events catered to its upscale market, with a evening get together featuring wine, chocolates, and appetizers from the shopping center’s restaurants. At the height of summer, an Under the Stars version of the event took visitors by shuttle to seven dining establishments, where they enjoyed fine wines and hors d’oeuvres. Half of each $40 ticket was donated to the Make a Wish foundation, and in total the shopping center donated nearly $13,000. Another Uncorked event raised money for Hands of Hope. The tradition continues this year, with the next Uncorked event on March 4, with proceeds benefiting the American Cancer Society

Meanwhile, Prime Outlets made the best of Black Friday with Midnight Madness Pajama Jam, earning them a spot as a finalist in the category of Public Relations. The first 500 shoppers to show up to each Prime Outlets location in their pajamas got a free gift bag that included special edition Jockey sleepwear. The word of mouth alone was insane, and by all accounts the event was friendly, fun and busy – without becoming dangerously crowded.

Last week we looked at the new U.S. Shopping Center MAXI Awards, and a few of the finalists that we’ve covered in the past. This week, let’s take a look at a couple finalists we haven’t discussed before.

In Category Integration, you’ll find Galleria at Sunset a finalist for the library branch found within its walls. Galleria at Sunset certainly isn’t the only mall to have picked up a library branch in recent years, but it’s done a particularly good job. Not only did it essentially give the library a free location for its first eight months (and apparently very reasonable lease terms going forward), but it worked hard to integrate the branch. Free wi-fi, extra courtyard seating, and a grand-opening ceremony were some of the perks Henderson Library found when it moved in.

Tyson’s Corner Center found a similarly positive solution for vacant space, earning a spot as a finalist in Cause Related Marketing. Stuck with a deserted movie theater (possibly the worst vacancy to fill) that was gathering dust for years, the shopping center carefully considered the needs of the local community. As a result, it opened Tysons Bullpen, where local high school baseball teams can practice. The high ceilings and an elevated floor perfectly accommodate 3 mesh-enclosed pitching and batting tunnels.

We’re less than a month away from the first ever U.S. Shopping Center MAXI awards. The Tactics Magazine team will be there. Will you?

In case you’re confused, here’s the rundown on the roster change for ICSC awards. The previous MAXI Awards were a global stepping stone on the way to the Best of the Best awards. Winners of the regional shopping center awards would bring their campaigns to the MAXI Awards, and the best of those would continue on. Now the system is more streamlined — U.S. shopping centers get the U.S. Shopping Center MAXI Awards to themselves, and the best of all the regional awards (including the MAXIs) head to the Best-of-the-Best to compete on a global level. Regional winners also compete for the title of Shopping Center Marketer of the Year.

We can’t wait to see this year’s entries. Past winners have always impressed with their creativity and courage. Looking at this year’s finalists, we expect to see some great work rewarded at this year’s Fusion Conference. We’ll look at some of those finalists in the remaining weeks leading up to the MAXI Awards.

For this week, let’s take a quick peek at some of the finalists that we’ve covered over the last year:

• PREIT is a finalist in the Cause Marketing category for Operation PJ Pileup.
• Developers Diversified is a finalist for Stars over DDR in the category of Visual Merchandising.
• Santana Row’s iPhone app is a finalist in New Media.
• Bayfair Center is a finalist in Category Integration for Retail Star.

Good luck to all the finalists. They’re a very deserving bunch! We’ll take a closer look at some of the finalists we haven’t already covered in the weeks to come.