APPROVED POLICY 240114
ALABAMA BEEKEEPERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC.
BEEKEEPER OF THE YEAR AWARD
At each annual fall conference, the Alabama Beekeepers Association will present to one member our “Beekeeper of the Year Award.” This award is presented to a person who has, over the period of years, contributed in a substantial and positive way to beekeepers in the State of Alabama; based on various criteria. The requirements are:
- Be a member in good standing with both the Alabama Beekeepers Association and their local bee club or organization.
- Has their colonies registered with the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industry.
- Has all required licenses and permits for beekeeping in the State of Alabama.
Some examples of other criteria that would make a good nominee are:
- Reached out to the non-beekeeping public to explain the value of honey bees in our lives.
- Be involved in the beekeeping community, locally, regionally and/or nationally.
- Influential with new beekeepers by teaching and/or mentoring new beekeepers.
- Has contributed in some substantial and positive way to beekeeping in the State of Alabama.
- Has significantly promoted and demonstrated good beekeeping practices.
- Has improved the public image of beekeeping.
- Has volunteered in civic and other beekeeping related projects.
- Is not a current ABA officer or board member.
Some nominees may not fit into all of the above criteria, and that is okay. We understand that some nominees are more teaching and inspirational orientated in their passion of beekeeping, while others are more hands-on through designing, building and/or demonstrating in the shop, lab, classroom, or bee yard. These individuals would make great nominees as well for this award.
To communicate this opportunity, you may wish to announce a request for nominations at your beekeeping meetings, in your newsletter, on your website or other electronic media. Feel free to contact officers of the Alabama Beekeepers Association for more information, and other local beekeepers or beekeeping organizations for possible candidates and letters of support.
The nomination process is easy. Simply write a one page or less letter (approximately 500 words), to our secretary at the email address in the closing of this document, outlining how the candidate has impacted beekeeping in Alabama, using the above and other major beekeeping related criterial accomplishments.
The deadline for nomination submissions is July 31st. Nominations and supporting letters should be emailed to our secretary and then he/she will forward all submitted documents to our nominations committee for review. The nominations committee will select the top three candidates and then submit the nominations committee selections to the board of directors for selection of one beekeeper of the year. All entries will be edited to remove any evidence of gender or identification by the nominating committee before submitting them to the board of directors. The winner will be announced at our annual fall conference in September.
Bee Joyful and Blessed,
Amy Seiber, Secretary
Email: secretary@alabamabeekeepers.com