Individuals, including children, have a new opportunity to be financially rewarded and recognised for their acts of kindness, heroism or outstanding community service.
To be eligible, however, they cannot have been working on behalf of any political party or business and/or cannot have committed a crime within the past five years.
That was announced yesterday as part of the relaunched CIBC Caribbean Unsung Heroes
programme.
Chief country management officer at CIBC Caribbean, Donna Wellington, during the launch at their Warrens, St Michael head office, said the financial institution was building on the strong legacy of its Unsung Heroes Programme that ran from 2003 to 2013 and highlighted and rewarded scores of Caribbean people who worked quietly in communities making a difference in the lives of many.
“Today, we kick off a renewed campaign to find those hidden heroes across our communities and to shine the spotlight on the life-changing work they are doing. We believe that heroes come in all shades and ages and so this new CIBC Caribbean Unsung Heroes campaign is open to all persons aged ten and over,” she said.
Wellington added that the majority of the region’s youth were engaged in positive and uplifting activities, ranging from care for the environment, health and social issues and other positive and uplifting activities which often went unnoticed.
“They, like scores of other men and women, have been making a difference in their communities and have not been highlighted or rewarded in any significant way,” she added.
The new campaign, which is being facilitated with support from the bank’s ComTrust Foundation, will offer two categories under which the individuals can be nominated – outstanding work in the community and an act of heroism/bravery or an extraordinary act of kindness within the 12 months preceding the start of the year’s campaign.
Director of corporate communications and long-standing trustee of the ComTrust Foundation, Debra King, shared details about the criteria.
“The award is open to individuals only and the work should be strictly voluntary,” she said, adding that the individual should not be working on behalf of a political party or business and should not have been previously publicly rewarded for their work.
“Nominees should be of good character with no recent – five years or more – criminal record.
“We make that distinction because we recognise that there are a number of people who might have had some trouble with the law in a previous part of their life and re-entered society and did good work. We don’t want to eliminate them.”
King added that the nominees should be willing to have their stories, likenesses or images used for publicity.
The competition is open to nominations from the ten territories in which the bank operates and winners will be selected from among those nominated at the local level and will be announced in August.
The winners from each country will then be eligible for the regional awards, the winners of which will be announced in September.
There are two local prizes: the winner will receive US$5 000 (BDS$10 000) and the runner-up will win US$2 500 (BDS$5 000) The regional awardees will receive US$5 000 and two runners-up US$2 500.
In October, the top three regional winners – the regional CIBC Caribbean Unsung Hero and two runners-up – and a guest each will be brought to Barbados for the presentation of prizes at a special awards dinner. ( TG)
