It’s that time of year again! For more than 25 years, Peoria Magazines has celebrated young leadership in Greater Peoria—honoring the region’s best and brightest at a prestigious reception each November. Since the first class of 40 Leaders Under Forty was recognized in 1994, more than 1,000 area leaders have joined this exclusive group. They come from different backgrounds and all walks of life, but one thing is constant: their support and advocacy for their community.
Nominations for the 2020 class are now being accepted through Friday, September 4th! So what exactly does it take to nominate someone?
In addition to basic information about the nominee, we ask for the following information:
- Why you believe this individual should receive the 40 Leaders Under Forty award;
- Detailed examples of accomplishments demonstrating leadership in his/her profession;
- Detailed examples of volunteerism and community service;
- Examples of nominee recognition, honors, awards, etc. supporting the nomination; and
- Additional information the judges should know that is relevant to the nomination.
Here are five helpful hints when preparing your nomination:
- More tends to be better. Make sure to address each question in detail—don’t pad it with fluff, but don’t leave anything out, either! Include both past and present affiliations and accomplishments, and details of each. Your nominations will be used to help create bios of the winners for the November issue of Peoria Magazine and the awards ceremony.
- Highlight the candidate’s nonprofit and volunteer work that lie outside of his or her job responsibilities. While volunteerism through one’s work is important and should be included, the judges tend to weigh voluntary involvement outside of the workplace more heavily.
- Additional letters of recommendation are not helpful. You may include quotes/recommendations from others as they pertain to the five questions above, but separate letters are not encouraged.
- Self-nominations are not accepted, and anonymous submissions are unlikely to make the cut. Find a friend or colleague to submit a nomination on your behalf, and your chances of being recognized will likely improve.
- Finally, the majority of candidates are not selected on their first nomination. Did you nominate someone last year who was not selected? Update your nomination and send it again! In many cases, it takes two or three years of nominations before a candidate is selected.
Check out our FAQ page for additional details about the nomination process and the event itself—then get your nomination in by the deadline: 4:30pm on Friday, September 4th. PS
This post has been updated to reflect this year’s nomination deadlines.
