Take a moment to nominate

Early this year, we received a phone call from a parent regarding Jay School Corporation music teacher Susan Denney.

The parent was effusive with her praise for Denney, who leads the Jay County High School and East Jay Middle School choirs and has also directed the high school musical for the last few years. The caller explained that not only is Denney an outstanding vocal coach, she makes an impact in her students’ lives well beyond music. The goal of the call was to seek public recognition for the teacher.

In addition to noting that we would continue to cover the choirs — Patriot Edition had its best year in school history, ultimately qualifying for the Indiana State School Music Association state finals — we offered a couple of suggestions:

•Write a letter to the editor to publicly thank Denney for her efforts, in and out of the classroom.

•Nominate Denney for the citizen of the year award.

The caller seemed taken aback by the second suggestion, unaware that she could make such a nomination.

But she can. And so can you.

Anyone can.

Let’s review the process.

First, go online to bit.ly/JCCawards. There you will find a nomination form, which could hardly be more simple. Just enter the name of the nominee, select the correct award and give your reasons for making the nomination. Then hit submit.

It’s that simple.

The rest of the process is up to Jay County Chamber of Commerce. First its board will take the nominations and narrow them down to three finalists in each category — business, citizen, innovator, industry, young professional and not-for-profit of the year, lifetime achievement, Dunkirk Community Commitment and small community commitment. Then the chamber members vote for the winners, who will be honored during an awards dinner scheduled for early March.

So if you know someone, like Denney, who you feel is deserving of public recognition, fill out the nomination form. Just a few minutes of your time could result in someone you care about earning one of the biggest awards this community has to offer. — R.C.