Committee keeps Awards of Excellence categories, tightens nomination form and sets calendar

The Miami Lakes youth committee agreed to retain its Awards of Excellence categories and to tighten nomination requirements, instructing schools to provide more-detailed, example-based nominations.

Committee members reviewed categories carried over from the prior year — athletics, business, community hero, fine arts, journalism, local advocacy, science/math, digital arts/media and educator/mentor — and debated how to solicit stronger submissions. Speaker 1 proposed revised wording for the nomination form: “Using concrete examples, describe how the nominee embodies the merits of this award.” That phrasing was adopted for the nomination guidance and committee members said they would add follow-up questions about the nominator’s relationship to the nominee and the nominee’s impact on the community.

The committee set an outreach and submission schedule: nomination materials will be released the week of Feb. 1, schools will have February to gather nominees, and submissions will be due by March 2 (March 1 falls on a Sunday this year). The committee will meet in March to review nominations and vote so winners are ready before the awards event, which the group scheduled for Thursday, April 30. Staff were instructed to send materials to intergovernmental staff and to ask principals to push submissions.

Members also discussed a minimum-nominations goal per category (three nominations where possible) and ways to discourage one-line or vague entries; the committee emphasized adding specific, impact-oriented questions to encourage substantive nominations.

Next steps: staff will update the online form, add fields for nominee contact information (email and phone), and distribute the revised nomination packet to intergovernmental contacts and principals for school outreach.