Oakville refreshes Community Spirit Awards recognition program

The Town of Oakville is excited to announce the Community Spirit Awards (CSA) recognition program will be returning this spring with new awards categories!

Thanks to feedback received from the community last fall on how they want to be recognized, the program has been refreshed to include broader awards categories that celebrate residents and stakeholders from all walks of life to make a difference in their community through volunteer efforts or acts of kindness.

Previous awards categories (arts, heritage, and access) have been integrated into the new categories. Individuals and groups will now be nominated in the award category that best recognizes their impact on the community. In addition, the Youth and Seniors awards have been discontinued to encourage submissions from all ages in the category that best reflect their contributions to the community.

New award categories:

1. Arts, Culture & Heritage Award
2. Climate Action Award
3. Good Neighbour Award
4. Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility Award
5. Inspiration Award
6. Leadership & Innovation Award

The CSA continues to celebrate individuals, not-for-profit organizations, social enterprises, and businesses who positively contribute to the quality of life of Oakville residents but will incorporate changes suggested by the community during a fall survey, which revealed that recognizing kindness and inspirational people was top of mind for residents, as well as celebrating diversity, inclusion, and climate action. For more about survey results, review the Community Spirit Awards Update presented to Council on January 30, 2023.

The CSA program will officially launch this March. Detailed submission guidelines, award categories and sample scoresheets will be available on the Community Spirit Awards page. Recipients will be honoured at a celebration event on June 8, 2023 at the Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre.

Quote

“The new awards program will be more inclusive and reach a broader audience thanks to feedback received from the public about how they want to be recognized. The refreshed awards focus on what matters most to our community. The awards will not only celebrate volunteers, but those who have changed the lives of those in our community with acts of kindness and generosity.”

Mayor Rob Burton

Background

• The CSA have recognized individual and groups for their outstanding contributions to the community since 2002.
• In 2021, the CSA celebrated its 20th anniversary with a successful hybrid event and combined community champion recognition for 2019 and 2020.
• In years past, the event was held in June, however due to the pandemic and gathering restrictions at the time, the 2021 event was scheduled for October to accommodate a hybrid celebration.
• When the CSA Organizing Committee regrouped after the October 2021 event, it was noted that a 2022 event may be challenging if it were to return as a June event again. Timing would be too close to the last event in October 2021 and there could be nominator fatigue.
• Given this feedback and COVID-19 impacts over the past two years, the committee recommended that the 2022 event be postponed to revamp the program for 2023.