The North Carolina Governor’s Office is seeking the standout volunteers of 2020.

Nominations for the 2020 Governor’s Volunteer Service Award are being accepted until Jan. 20.

“Volunteers are the backbone of our community. They’re the people in the weeds that are doing the work and impacting individuals, families, children, older people — all ages. The work of a lot of churches and organizations can’t be done without volunteers,” said Kris Bowen, Beaufort-Hyde Partnership for Children’s literacy and outreach coordinator.

Bowen is getting the word out about this year’s collection of nominations. While each county can nominate up to 10 people, businesses, groups/teams or a paid director of volunteers, one of those nominees will be further evaluated by a local committee for the Governor’s Medallion Award for Volunteer Service, given to the top 20 volunteers in the state. Volunteers are chosen based on their efforts, commitment of time, accomplishments, community impact and enhancement of the lives of others.

“It could be any volunteer that just is working to make an impact in their county,” Bowen said.

Last year, Chrislyn Wedderien, of Carryout by Chrislyn in Washington, was awarded the medallion award for orchestrating an ongoing effort to feed eastern North Carolinians impacted by Hurricane Florence in 2018.

Nomination categories are: adult/individual; family (a family that volunteers together on the same project); group/team; youth; senior; disabled (a person who has overcome significant mental and/or physical obstacles to engage in service to others); faith-based entity; corporate/business; national service; or director of volunteers (a paid staff member who exceeds expectations of good volunteer management skills).

Application forms can be downloaded from the BHPC website, www.bhckids.org and emailed to jburnham@bhckids.org or applications can be filled out online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/NFYQLHX. All applications filled out online will automatically be forwarded to Beaufort County’s nominations coordinator.

For more information and tips for writing an effective nomination, visit nc.gov/agencies/volunteer/volunteer-awards.