Mother’s Day is less than a week away, and many are likely wracking their minds as to what to get the woman who has given being a mom her all.

Those people may be adult children wondering what present to buy for the mom who says she has everything she needs or wants; they may be husbands trying to figure out what to give their wives on behalf of their young children.

The process can be challenging.

Finding the perfect gift is never easy, but this one can be especially difficult given all it represents. Moms are a unique bunch for which the word sacrifice is, or has been, an everyday occurrence, one born not from duty, but out of love.

Love is the inspiration behind hundreds of nights tucking little ones into bed; responding to hundreds of middle-of-the-night calls for “Mom!” Love has been the motivation behind kissed boo-boos and hours shepherding children from school to sports practices to recitals to dances and more. Love has been the key ingredient to every meal on the dinner table and cake baked for a birthday. It’s dried tears and celebrated victories. It’s been there during emergency room visits and family vacations; from the moment a child is brought into the world to the day that child leaves home for good — and beyond.

Each year, the Washington Daily News tries recognizes the importance of moms’ role in each and every life by selecting a Mother of the Year for the Mother’s Day issue of the paper. Readers are asked to send in stories about why their moms are great, and one mom will be featured in the paper (and get a lovely bouquet of flowers). In the past, moms selected have ranged from a young mother who has dedicated her life to caring for a critically ill son to the elderly mother of four adult siblings who, only later as adults, learned just how much their mother sacrificed to give them a good upbringing.

The Daily News is looking for that special mom. The clock’s ticking: readers have until Friday at noon to submit Mother of the Year entries to the Washington Daily News. Submissions should be 400 words or less and can be emailed to news@thewashingtondailynews.com or dropped off at the Daily News office from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Every mom deserves to be recognized on this special day, but here’s a chance to give her a Mother’s Day gift like no other.