BANGOR – A local business networking group for young professionals has won a statewide business award.

FusionBangor was named the Maine Development Foundation REALIZE!Maine award winner as the top young professionals’ group in the state.

MDF also named The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor and the University of Maine’s Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center in Orono Champions for Economic Development.

The awards will be given out Sept. 18 at the Maine Development Foundation’s annual meeting in Augusta.

The REALIZE!Maine Champion award recognizes organizations that have advanced the cause of young people in Maine, especially those in the 20-40 age group, REALIZE!Maine program director Ed Cervone said.

“Fusion, since its inception [in 2005], is a regional group that has excelled … in helping the cause and making life better for young people in the Bangor area,” Cervone said. “They serve as a good model for other groups around the state.”

REALIZE!Maine is a program of the Maine Development Foundation, which seeks to raise awareness of opportunities for young businesspeople in Maine.

Shannon Haines, the director of the Maine International Film Festival, was named the MDF’s Ken Curtis Leadership Award winner. The Main Street Hero Award went to the Speaker’s Coalition for the Historic Tax Credit. Sally DelGreco of DelGreco Strategic Partners in Brunswick is the REALIZE!Maine Yellow Light Breen Visionary Award winner. Poland Spring Bottling Co. was named a Champion for Economic Development.