Nominate a volunteer for the Canada’s Volunteer Awards

Eligibility details

Nominees can be individuals or groups, businesses or not-for-profit organizations and must meet specific eligibility criteria. Political and public advocacy work is not eligible.

Individuals or groups must:

• be Canadian citizens, permanent residents or protected persons within the meaning of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act;
• be between the ages of 18 and 30 for the Emerging Leader category and 18 years of age and over for all other categories;
• have contributed to addressing social challenges in their community.

Businesses or not-for-profit organizations must:

• be Canadian (e.g. registered not-for-profit organizations or businesses registered in Canada). For the purposes of the administration of the Canada’s Volunteer Awards, not-for-profit organization means entities incorporated under either federal or provincial not-for-profit legislation or registered charities that do not have transferable ownership interests and are organized and operated exclusively on a not-for-profit basis for a variety of purposes including social, educational, professional and charitable purposes;
• have contributed to addressing social challenges in their community in Canada.

What you need before you nominate a volunteer

Please review the Guidelines for nominations before submitting a nomination.

Submit a nomination

Assessment process

The Canada’s Volunteer Awards are managed through a nationally administered call for nominations and a three-step assessment process:

1. Departmental officials review the Canada’s Volunteer Awards nominations to ensure nominees are eligible for consideration for an award.
2. Volunteer representatives of award category areas from across the country review nominations. These regional reviewers include individual volunteers and representatives of not-for-profit organizations and businesses that use innovative approaches to address social challenges. The regional reviewers assess nominations based on the set of established nomination criteria and create a list of top-ranked nominations for assessment by the National Advisory Committee.
3. Up to 15 volunteer National Advisory Committee members selected by the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development evaluate the top ranked nominees (determined by the regional reviewers) and advise the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development. Members of the National Advisory Committee represent the voluntary, private and not-for-profit sectors, and various regions of the country.

Assessment criteria

In the second and third steps of the assessment process, nominees will be assessed according to six criteria. As a nominator, you must provide clear evidence that the nominee has excelled in all six criteria.

1. Role
2. Impact
3. Reach
4. Engagement
5. Challenges
6. Inspiration

Guides and help

• Guidelines for Nominations
• Guide to Exemplary Practices in Volunteer Recruitment and Retention
• Guide to Exemplary Practices in Community Leadership
• Canada’s Volunteer Awards Animated Video
• Canada’s Volunteer Awards: technology and volunteerism video
• Operation Red Nose Video – Volunteer at the wheel

Contact

• Contact the Canada’s Volunteer Awards

Related program

• Canada’s Volunteer Awards