South Carolina Humanities is pleased to announce that nominations for the Governor’s Awards in the Humanities and the Fresh Voices in the Humanities Award are now being accepted through April 15, 2019.
For the Governor’s Awards in the Humanities, SC Humanities seeks to recognize:
- outstanding achievement in humanities research, teaching, and scholarship
- institutional and individual participation in helping communities in South Carolina better understand our cultural heritage or ideas and issues related to the humanities
- excellence defining South Carolina’s cultural life to the nation or world
- exemplary support for public humanities programs.
Eighty-two individuals and organizations have received awards since 1991. Award winners are recognized annually at a luncheon in October.
Individuals, organizations, and institutions whose efforts have strengthened the humanities in the Palmetto State are eligible to receive a Governor’s Awards in the Humanities. Categories eligible for nomination include:
- The Lifetime Achievement Award, for an individual who has demonstrated exemplary support for public humanities programs on the local and/or state level over a significant period of time
- The Distinctive Achievement Award, for an individual who best defines South Carolina’s cultural life to the nation or to the world
- The Academic Achievement Award, for an individual responsible for significant work in teaching, research, or scholarship in one or more of the humanities disciplines
- The Community Leadership & Support Award, for an institution, business, or individual that creates or participates in community-based programs that promote public understanding of ideas and issues related to the humanities
- The Public Humanities Award, for an individual practitioner responsible for outstanding public humanities programs in libraries, museums, historical societies, or other cultural institutions
- The Volunteer Achievement Award, for an individual who has contributed to increasing the understanding of our cultural heritage and values in the community, region, or state through public program participation.
Awards may be given in any, all, or none of the categories.
As of 2018, SC Humanities is pleased to be offering a new award that will also be presented in October: the Fresh Voices in the Humanities Award. Board Chair Kim Jeffcoat said, “The Board of SC Humanities is excited to be adding the “Fresh Voices in the Humanities Award” to our already well established and prestigious Governor’s Awards. There are so many South Carolinians doing innovative and exciting work in the humanities, and we can’t wait to celebrate them and share their stories.”
The Fresh Voices in the Humanities Award will recognize individuals who are working in unique and innovative ways to use culture and history to bring people together, but whose efforts have gone relatively unnoticed beyond their own community. For the Fresh Voices in the Humanities Award, SC Humanities seeks to recognize new voices who:
- Identify current opportunities by examining the world through a fresh lens.
- Engage their communities through open conversation and collaboration.
- Create innovative responses that have a dynamic impact.
The SC Humanities Board of Directors will choose the nominees who best exemplify the criteria. A letter of nomination should be sent to the attention of Dr. Randy Akers, SC Humanities, P.O. Box 5287, Columbia, SC 29250 by April 15, 2019. Nomination letters may be up to three pages in length and should describe the contributions of the nominee. Individuals, organizations, or institutions may not nominate themselves.
Nominations will also be accepted by e-mail at rlakers@schumanities.org.
For more information about the awards or the nomination process, please contact the office at 803-771-2477.
