Outstanding Citizen Engagement
About the Award
Outstanding Citizen Engagement
The Better Canada Institute (BCI) would like to recognize a citizen who has made a positive impact in public policy through grassroots organizing, civic participation, or through other citizen engagement mechanisms. BCI strives to provide a space for citizens to engage and interact with public policy, so the recipient of this award should demonstrate their own involvement in public policy decision making, and their efforts in making policy accessible to fellow citizens.
As a non-partisan organization, BCI celebrates cross-partisan collaboration and therefore, the recipient of this award should demonstrate how, through their work on this issue, they engaged across party lines, between levels of government, and/or with a variety of stakeholders.
Eligibility and Obligations
- Must identify as a citizen actively participating in the making/implementation of Canadian public policy through grassroots organizing , civic participation, or through other citizen engagement mechanisms.
- The policy(ies) the nominee highlights for consideration must be recent, within the 18 months (after January 2020) prior to the date nominations open.
- If shortlisted, the nominee agrees to allow BCI the use of their logo, photo, application materials, or any other relevant material submitted in the application. – *see section 3.2 of the terms and conditions for additional information.
- The shortlisted nominees will be required to share a brief video as part of the selection process.
- The shortlisted candidates are invited to attend the virtual award event. If the candidate is unable to attend, an individual(s) of their choosing may accept the award in their place.
Criteria
1. The nominee must demonstrate active engagement in policy making for one or more policy(ies) areas, and active encouragement and creation of opportunities for citizen engagement in public policy. *Please note: at this time, we are only considering the nominee’s involvement in Canadian policy.
2. The nominee must demonstrate collaboration between parties, levels of government, and/or diverse stakeholders.
3. The nominee must provide evidence of measurable policy impact (i.e. data, summaries and conclusions gathered from data, etc.).
Who Can Submit
1. May be nominated or self-nominated.
2. Nominations may be made by individuals who know the nominee well enough to share the nominee’s achievements. This could include board members, staff members, volunteers, client or community members; and can be made with or without the candidate’s knowledge of nomination. We encourage collaboration between nominees and nominators to create stronger applications.
Selection Proces
- The selection committee will be an independent committee composed of the Better Canada Institute leadership.
- The selection committee will deliberate on a shortlist, which will be released on bettercanadainstitute.ca and all relevant communications platforms. The shortlisted nominees will receive an email notification with next steps before the shortlist is released publicly.
- The shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide a brief video detailing their work before a final award winner is chosen.
- The recipient of the award will be announced at the BCI Awards Event (Date TBA).
Important Dates
· JUNE 30, 2021: Nominations Open
· OCTOBER 1, 2021 Nominations Close
· OCTOBER 15, 2021 Short-List Announced
· TBD, 2021 Virtual Award Event
Contact Information
If you have any questions, please contact Stephanie Choi, Awards Coordinator, at stephanie.choi@bettercanadainstitute.ca. If any accessibility accommodations are required, please let us know in advance so we can best accommodate you.
