FURTHER INFORMATION

BACKGROUND Party Awards are designed to recognise publicly those who have given the party outstanding service and commitment. Candidates must themselves be party members, and be nominated and seconded by two party members. The winners are chosen by a working group of the Federal Executive which includes the Party President and usually representatives of the three state parties.

PRESENTED AWARDS The Presidents Award is open to any Party Member elected to public office. The Harriet Smith Liberal Democrat Distinguished Service Award is open to any Party Member never elected to public office. For both of these awards, the panel will be looking for outstanding commitment and service to the Party, which can be recognized in the Awards presented normally at the Partys Annual Conference. Local, regional and state parties should be seeking to nominate people who deserve recognition for their hard work, long service, and demonstrable dedication to the party, at whatever level. There are expected to be special awards to be awarded from the Party for whom public recognition is long overdue. The Belinda Eyre-Brook Award is given to recognise and celebrate the work of political assistants to Liberal Democrat Council Groups. This key role requires flexibility, imagination, diplomacy, firmness and an ability to recognise and manage political risk. A good political assistant will care about their local area and be committed to the success of Liberal Democrats within it. Turning local political priorities into council priorities is a key part of the job of a good political assistant, as is linking the Group into the Party nationally. The Dadabhai Naoroji Award is presented annually to the local Party that has done most to promote BAME participants to elected office as Councillors, Assembly Members, Members of Parliament or Members of European Parliament. This award is designed to encourage local parties to work towards the goal of increasing their ethnic diversity to more accurately reflect the areas they represent, and to recognise those that already make a great effort to involve different communities in their work.

NOMINATION PROCEDURE The attached nomination form should be completed with details of the individual, setting out why an award should be made. An officer of a local party, regional executive member or officer, or state party executive or officer should sign the nomination form, in addition to another member. The completed form should be sent to Rachael Clarke (the Federal & English Party Governance Officer) no later than 31st July 2013 via rachael.clarke@libdems.org.uk or to: Rachael Clarke LDHQ, 8-10 Great George Street, London SW1P 3AE All nominations will be acknowledged on receipt. Decisions on successful nominations will be made known to the nominees, proposers, and seconders by 16th August 2013, and decisions on unsuccessful nominations will be made known to proposers/seconders only by the same date. The winners will be formally announced at the September Autumn Conference in Glasgow (September 2013). It is likely that presentation of the awards will take place immediately prior to the leaders speech in the afternoon session of Wednesday 18th September 2013. 2012 WINNERS The Presidents Award was won by Michael Foxley. Michael is a member in the Highlands and previous Convenor of the Liberal Democrat group on Highland Council. He has made a huge contribution to the both the Party and the people of the Highlands over his many years as a member. The Harriet Smith Award was won by Diana Iwi. Diana has been active in the party for longer than even the people who nominated her could remember though they told us that she first stood for election in 1968. Since then, she has been permanently active as an exec member in the local party; as chair; as secretary; as an agent and organiser. We believe she tried to retire a couple of years ago, only to be brought back to act as an agent in East Finchley. All this without being elected to public office. The Belinda Eyre-Brook Award was won by Duncan Borrowman. Duncan is the assistant to the Surrey County Council group. He is a pro-active political assistant whose thorough research and drafting of questions has helped the Surrey group to be a highly effective opposition. Perhaps the most important work he does is with artworking and press releases, where hes key to getting the Partys message out to the press and the public. The Dadabhai Naoroji Award was won by Leicester Local Party. There were a number of outstanding applications for the Dadabhai Naoroji Award, and all were thanked during the presentation for their hard work and encouraged to apply again in the future. Leicester sent us an incredibly detailed applicatio about the work they had done in their local executive and in local and national elections to represent one of the most diverse cities in the UK. We were in no doubt that their future campaigns will benefit from the work they have done for many years to encourage a wide variety of people into their local party.

NOMINATION FORM
Please return to Rachael Clarke at rachael.clarke@libdems.org.uk or LDHQ, 8-10 Great George Street, London SW1P 3AE. Any enquiries can be directed similarly or to 020 7227 1368. Nomination for the ________________________________________________________________ Award Nominee Name: __________________________________________________________________________ Postal Address: ___________________________________________________________________________ E-Mail Address: ___________________________________________________________________________ Mobile Telephone: _________________________________________________________________________ Local Party: ______________________________________________________________________________ Membership No: _________________________________________________________________________ Membership Start Date/Length of Membership: _______________________________________________ Proposer Seconder Name: _________________________________ Party Office: ____________________________ Address: _______________________________ _______________________________________ E-Mail: _________________________________ Telephone: ______________________________ Membership No: _________________________ Signature: ______________________________ Name:__________________________________ Party Office: _____________________________ Address: ________________________________ ________________________________________ E-Mail: __________________________________ Telephone: _______________________________ Membership No: __________________________ Signature: _______________________________

Brief profile of nominees activities, achievements and contribution to the Party which supports your nomination:

Please state specific reasons why you think your nominee should be supported for an award this year in particular: