Beautiful scenes like that remind us what a wonderful place West Seattle is — but it’s not just the scenery, it’s the wonderful people too … which is why, in collaboration with Julie Mireille Anderson from Divina (subject of a P-I profile this weekend), and as many West Seattleites who want to be part of this, we are announcing a way for you to give the gift of recognition:

It was right around Thanksgiving when Julie proposed the idea, saying she felt so thankful for so many people who work so hard to make this a better place, she wanted to have some way to give them special recognition. And so emerged the idea of the “West Seattle Community Recognition Awards.”

They won’t come with a banquet or a trophy – at least not for starters! But they will come with a lot of love and appreciation and, of course, recognition. The idea is that every quarter, from your nominations, three people will be chosen and honored, with the announcement and profiles here on WSB, and announcement posters anywhere in WS we can get someone to let us put ’em up. Julie is organizing the judging panel.

Some local merchants already have agreed to have flyers and entry forms on hand (thank you) – so you may see those as you make the rounds shopping in West Seattle. We will be collecting them through WSB, by e-mail and postal mail, and here are downloadable versions:

West Seattle Community Recognition Awards announcement
West Seattle Community Recognition Awards nomination form

The three inaugural categories for nominees are:

MAKING OTHERS GREAT: Here, we want to hear your nominations for West Seattle people who work tirelessly on behalf of others, whether or not those they help are in WS.

MAKING WEST SEATTLE GREAT: For this category, please nominate West Seattle people whose volunteer efforts primarily go toward making WS a better place.

BLOGGERS’ CHOICE AWARD: Got someone who just doesn’t fit in either of those categories, but there’s a West Seattle link and you think they deserve recognition? Try this category!

Please send in your nomination(s) as soon as feasible … we plan to make the announcements on the third Friday of each quarter at a gathering at a West Seattle location TBA, 4-6 pm — we figure this first one on January 18th can double as the first-ever WSB meet-n-greet so mark your calendar.

E-mail nominations, preferably using the above-linked forms (or else plain text with all the same information), to our main mailbox (westseattleblog@yahoo.com) or if you are printing them out and want to send them via postal mail, here’s our address:

West Seattle Community Recognition Awards
c/o West Seattle Blog
2850 SW Yancy, #116
Seattle, WA 98126

We’ll set an official deadline once Julie finalizes the awards panel, so for now, it’s ASAP. Thanks; can’t wait to find out more about all the great people you nominate!