Heart of the Arts Award
The NFHS has developed its “National High School Heart of the Arts Award,” which will be conferred to eight section winners as well as one national winner. The recipient must be an individual from a high school that is a member of an NFHS-member athletic or activity association.
The recipient could be any student, adult or group associated with the school’s performing arts program. This award, which is similar to the Spirit of Sport Award, covers a plethora of performing arts disciplines: Music, Speech, Debate, Theatre, Visual Arts and other performing arts activities in member schools .
This award seeks to recognize those individuals who exemplify the ideals of the positive heart of the arts that represent the core mission of education-based activities. The award may be given in recognition of a specific act or for an activity of longer duration.
For example, it could be awarded to an individual (or group) that:
*has demonstrated exemplary “heart,” sportsmanship and/or citizenship in participation as it should occur;
*has exceeded normal expectations in assisting others within the school or community; or
*has overcome adversity or a challenging circumstance.
In the instance of a student, that student must be in good academic standing within his or her respective high school. Among the qualifying criteria that will be used are the student’s grade-point average, the activities in which he or she is involved, and community involvement. Other candidates should possess similar positive character traits, such as a high level of integrity and ethics.
The nomination must be for something that occurred between January 1, 2021 and January 31, 2022. Nominated individuals do not necessarily need to still be enrolled in high school at the time of the nomination.
The NFHS seeks to identify worthy award recipients by nominations submitted by the membership. Those nominations may be made by member high school associations, or by high schools or performing arts associations working through the member high school associations. In the instance of a nomination originating from a high school or performing arts association, it must be forwarded to the high school association within its particular state. A listing of all state associations is featured on the NFHS Website at www.nfhs.org
The member state association would then review all nominations, select the one nomination it deems worthy, sign the nomination form indicating its endorsement and approval and forward it to the NFHS. Each state association may submit just one nominee to the NFHS.
If an NFHS-member state association has a candidate it wishes to nominate, please complete and return this nomination form to SCHSL no later than January 31, 2022. It may be submitted electronically by completing the form and e-mailing it to Tammie Newman (tnewman@schsl.org); or by mailing it to Tammie Newman, 121 Westpark Blvd, Columbia SC 29210. In all instances, the deadline for returning the completed nomination is January 31, 2022. An eight-member national committee will then select the award winners.
This nomination form is the primary criterion in the nomination process. Support materials are welcome, but not required. We would ask that you limit your support materials to a reasonable number. Please also submit a color photograph of the nominee(s).
