Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger invites area agencies and residents to nominate individuals who give their time and talents through volunteer service. A committee will select one youth recipient and one adult recipient to represent Hamilton County at the Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards ceremony in Franklin next February.
Organizations may nominate one youth and one adult. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, Nov. 21. Winners and the person who nominated them will be notified by January.
Those eligible are:
Any individual whose volunteer activities in Tennessee benefit the community or the State of Tennessee in a substantial, important, or unique way.
Students receiving course credits are eligible only if the volunteer service extends beyond course requirements. This must be clearly indicated in the nomination letter.
National Service program participants (AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps*VISTA, Learn and Serve, RSVP, Foster Grandparents, Senior Companions, etc.) are encouraged to apply based on their volunteer involvement in their national service assignment.
Those not eligible are:
Individuals involved in “court mandated community service” or those serving as “loaned executives.”
Persons who receive compensation for service rendered (except National Service participants noted above).
Volunteers may be nominated by anyone or may nominate themselves. The nomination letter should specifically be formatted for the Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards according to the judging criteria listed below. If it is written as a nomination for another award, it will not be given to the judges for consideration of this award. In the event that an individual is nominated multiple times, the review panel will consider only the first nomination form submitted.
The judging criteria will be:
Need: Service addressed a specific need in the community (e.g. poverty).
Action: The nominee was actively involved and took initiative.
Innovation: The nominee used creative methods to solve community problems.
Impact: The activity or service produced positive changes and provided an example to others.
For information on how to submit a nomination email NatalieP@HamiltonTN.gov .