To really honor outstanding citizens, you must recognize that citizens and good examples of citizenship emanate from every nook and cranny of your community. You have quiet heroes sprinkled liberally throughout the area, people who do good deeds silently, without fanfare, without the expectation of reward or honor. Those are exactly the people who should be honored.

The key to honoring citizenship is to honor people and groups from all walks of life. By spotlighting outstanding individuals and groups who toil with a smile in relative anonymity, you are actually reflecting the quality of citizenship in your community.

Here are 10 categories you may consider when determining those to honor with your local Citizenship Award:

• Business: to a business person or business that consistently and demonstrably contributes to the overall well-being and quality of life in the community through charitable and/or volunteer efforts.



• Community: to a group and/or individual displaying outstanding dedication to the community.



• Culture: to a group and/or individual who promotes or participates in the area's arts.



• Education: to an individual and/or group that has greatly contributed in the field of education.



• Environment: to a group and/or individual for outstanding service in preserving our environment.



• Government: to an elected official, government employee, citizen advocate, or appointed community board representative for his/her outstanding involvement in community government.



• Religious: to an individual and/or group for devoted service to the spiritual life community.



• Senior Citizen: to an outstanding person (62 or over) who, by his/her life and example and work, has enriched the quality of life in the community.



• Youth: to an outstanding young person (18 or younger) who has contributed to the community by serving as an outstanding promise of youth.



• Wellness: to an individual and/or group who excels in the area of human service and health.

Your Citizenship Team may determine that there are other categories that should be added, depending upon your own community. Sincerity and creativity are the watchwords here!

Securing Nominations

Nominations for possible Citizenship Awards honorees can be solicited in many ways. Of course, you can place the nomination ballots in as many public places as possible (Reference "Getting Your Message Out" Section on this Website).

A more likely and "one-stop" method is the media. Place the nomination ballot in the newspaper - you may be able to get a corporate sponsor for the awards and use some of the sponsorship funding to pay for the cost of an advertisement or insert in the newspaper.

Even if you can't afford to advertise, you can still generate an impressive amount of free publicity! Visit your local media armed with a draft copy of your nomination form and news release and ask if they would be interested in doing a news story on this exciting program. Ask the reporter or editor to list not only the award categories, but also where nomination forms can be obtained (if it is not listed with or adjacent to the news story).

Make yourself available to local TV and radio shows to discuss the awards with them and their audiences. In short, generate excitement and enthusiasm for the awards based on the fact that everyday people not only have a chance to become honorees, they also have the opportunity to nominate their deserving friends and neighbors for the citizenship awards.

The Nomination Form and Process

Click here to download the Nomination Form in Microsoft Word format. The nomination form should list each category description, the dates and time frame of entry submission, and an invitation to include supporting documentation about each nominee. Be sure to assemble a panel of judges representative of the community to rate the ballot nominations. (A sample grading form for judges appears at the end of this section.)

Some communities celebrate the award recipients by holding a dinner in their honor. Though that's optional, you at least want to generate ample and appropriate publicity through your media contacts and with other collaborative partners in the community.

In communities where similar programs have been launched, this activity has become the fastest-growing awards program in the area. Whatever name the awards are given (one community calls them the "Good News" Awards), what they stand for is quality and quantity of superb citizens in the community. And that's good news for everyone.