Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism now accepting nominations for Governor’s Service Awards

The Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism has announced the opening of the nomination period for the 2018 Governor’s Service Awards, marking the 35th year for this awards ceremony, which will be held this fall. The Governor’s Service Awards recognize Marylanders who have provided significant volunteer contributions to communities around the state during 2017 (or longer for Lifetime Achievement Category), and are working to change Maryland for the better.

“The Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism remains committed to Governor Hogan’s directive to recognize, promote, and encourage volunteerism throughout the state,” said Van Brooks, Director of the Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism. “In addition to the upcoming Governor’s Service Awards, we celebrate the service of Maryland’s outstanding volunteers through various initiatives, including the Black History Month Community Leaders Awards introduced earlier this year. Our office has recognized the significant contributions of volunteers to our communities by giving over 1,400 volunteer certificates just since the beginning of 2018.”

“The continued efforts of the Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism, through initiatives such as the Governor’s Service Awards, help to grow Maryland’s volunteer community – an important partner in ensuring that all citizens have access to the resources they need to thrive in Maryland,” said Steve McAdams, Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives. “Recently, my office utilized these very relationships to connect volunteer networks to an initiative led by Governor Hogan to distribute hundreds of thousands of food kits to Marylanders in need.”

In 2017, over 150 nominations were received for the prestigious Governor’s Service Awards. Among last year’s award recipients were Grace Callwood, a youth survivor of stage IV Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and the founder of the We Cancerve Movement, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to finding swift solutions for homeless, sick, and foster children; Miriam Zadek, a lifelong advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing community in Maryland; and Champion of Service Award winner Mr. J.W. Marriott.

The deadline to submit a nomination is Friday, June 1, 2018. Nominations are encouraged to include strong narrative writing within the word limit, focus on the previous year of service (excluding the Lifetime Achievement category), and provide comprehensive quantitative data to support service efforts, such as the number of people served and number of hours volunteered. Nominations may be submitted for individuals and groups in one of 15 categories: