We’ve been a busy crew, here at Vision Monday, this summer. And, so have you, our active, involved and esteemed readers in the VM community!

Last month, we produced our first Optometric Business Innnovators Report, a project we did with our sister group, Review of Optometric Business. We sorted through hundreds of your submissions and the input of a professional advisory group to profile 35 intriguing optometrists from around the U.S. who excel at using creative and results-oriented approaches in a range of business areas. Hopefully you’ve seen it, but, if not, please take some time to check it out on VM.com and ReviewOB.com.

Then, just as that feature was in the works, it was time for us to navigate through another substantial batch of VM reader nominations to determine another group of 35 compelling individuals who’d be featured among our 9th annual signature report on the Most Influential Women in Optical. And once again, we’re including a distinct group of accomplished female graduates from the country’s schools of optometry and opticianry in our related Class of 2011 feature.

In addition, we’ve put the structure together now for another VM first, the D.A.R.E. Awards. Go directly to VM.com now or to VM’s Facebook page (you’re a friend of VM on FB, aren’t you?) and check out the interesting categories in VM’s Dispensing And Retailing Excellence Awards. Enter your optical boutique, dispensary, marketing campaign and unique merchandising initiatives. Our goal is to uncover the sparks of creativity and passion that we know are out there—and which represent great new ideas advancing the dispensing of eyewear.

This year, which is VM’s 25th in covering the news and trends of the optical business, we are energized to find inspiration and trends among the diverse group of people who compose the vision care field and our broad universe of readers. We hope you are, too. ■

maxelrad@jobson.com