The Town of Fort Frances is seeking nominations for the citizen of the year and junior citizen of the year awards.
Presented to outstanding members of the community, the awards are to recognize those who have contributed selflessly for the sake of making their town a better place.
“It’s just a chance to make the community feel good about itself,” says Mayor Andrew Hallikas.
He says the annual awards are a big deal, and winners are a “shining beacon” to all.
“We get pretty excited about it over here,” he says. “There’s so many great people in our community who often go unrecognized, but are just quietly giving unselfishly to others, or generously volunteering their time, and it’s just nice to recognize them.”
Hallikas says he encourages everyone to send in nominations for anyone who deserves recognition for the selfless work they do.
It could be someone who’s coached for years, or who takes part in cultural activities, maybe the person serves in community groups, or helps plan events.
“Look around at your neighbours, your friends, your relatives — we all know these people who go out of their way, who go the extra mile to do something nice for others,” says Hallikas. “So write a nomination, and try and get some recognition for them.”
When sending in nominations, the submissions should include specific detailed examples of how the person has served the community. Forms can also include sharing how the nominee’s contributions have impacted others.
“It’s really nice to see inspired people, to see people who care about their community, who wanted to give back and did,” says Hallikas. “To me, that’s an inspiration.”
He says the community is filled with those types of people, and as such, it’s tough to select a winner.
“If you look back at the list of winners — amazing people doing amazing things,” he says. “So it’s very hard. I’ve sat on the committee in the past and I’ve seen members go back and forth and agonize how to compare certain things. It’s really a difficult task.”
Hallikas says that in a time of constant bad news, it’s nice to have a reminder there’s still lots of good.
“There’s so much in the news about the opioid crisis, and the homelessness situation, and those are really, really serious things, and sometimes it’s good to realize that there are also a lot of really positive and good things happening in our community,” he says. “So let’s take this as a chance as a community to recognize someone amongst our midst who’s out there spreading some joy and some positivity and some good news.”
Nomination forms can be found online on the town’s website. The deadline to send in nominations is September 29 at 4 p.m.
The junior citizen of the year award is presented to someone 18 or under, while the citizen of the year award is given to someone 19 or older.
Nominees must reside in Fort Frances or the surrounding area, and cannot nominate themselves.
Winners for both awards will be announced sometime before the end of 2023.
