Golden Heart Awards Nomination Information

Categories

• Adult Volunteer of the Year – Individual 19 years of age or older.
• Environmental Stewardship Volunteer of the Year – An individual who volunteers for an organization involved in environmental stewardship.
• Arts Volunteer of the Year – An individual who has provided service to organizations and activities that promote performing arts within the community.
• Cultural Volunteer of the Year – An individual who volunteers with an organization promoting, educating and preserving visual arts and cultural heritage of the community.
• Volunteer Group of the Year – A group of 3 or more volunteers whose efforts have strengthened an organization and the community.
• Youth Volunteer Scholarship Award – Limited to high school seniors. Nominations can be made by the youth or others.  Youth nominees will be asked to provide an essay on volunteerism.
• Karl May Lifetime of Service Award – A volunteer whose lifetime of service exemplifies notable achievement in community service. The award has typically been given to a volunteer who is 60+ years of age.

Eligibility

• Nominee’s volunteer organization must provide services for the community at large. Religious, fraternal, or professional groups that provide services only to their members are not eligible.
• Volunteers who received reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses such as mileage are eligible.
• Past recipients of Golden Heart Awards are ineligible to receive the award again for 5 years. Past nominees can be nominated annually.
• Organizations receiving designated funds must be serving Door County.

Helpful Tips

• Be as specific and concise as possible.
• Consider interviewing the nominee to ensure you have complete information about their service.
• On the Nomination Form, focus on one program or organization that best highlights the nominee’s service when answering the first question (Activity, Need/Impact, Initiative and Achievement).
• Use the second question (Service) to describe the nominee’s volunteer work with other organizations and programs. Consider reaching out to those organizations to get more information about your nominee.
• Assume judges know nothing about the nominee or the organization, so tell the story as you would to a stranger. Expand on why the work of your nominee is important to the program or organization.
• Well-written nominations score higher with judges. If necessary, ask for help from someone you know who has excellent writing skills.
• Not sure where to start? Want your nomination to stand out?  We highly encourage any nominator to attend a ZOOM Q&A and coaching session.  Sessions are:
  (SIGN UP TO GET THE ZOOM LINK AUTOMATICALLY EMAILED TO YOU)
  • Wednesday, February 14, 2024 2:30-3:30 pm – SIGN UP
  • Thursday, February 22, 2024 5:30-6:30 pm – SIGN UP
  • Monday, February 26, 2024 12:00-1:00 pm – SIGN UP

Nominations must be received by United Way of Door County by Feb 27, 2024.

Nomination Form Instructions

• Organization or individuals can nominate more than one candidate or may nominate themselves
• Volunteers can only be nominated and receive an award in one category.
• All nomination information should be considered public and may be disclosed at the awards ceremony or to the media.
• An independent, anonymous panel of community leaders will choose award recipients for each category. Judges may request additional information.  Their decisions are final.
• For persons unable to access the online nomination form, please contact United Way of Door County office at (920) 746-9645.

Questions?    920-746-9645