The intrigues about Awards….

Biased judgment? It is seldom that I hear an award’s night without intrigues. How come and the club don’t know the criteria are just some of the common raised points.

The truth of the matter is, no award ceremony is mandated in RI policies either for Rotary or Rotaract. There is also no required budget for the district awards. It’s usually the District Rotaract Representative’s own expense. This is because the event is a way of thanking key people who contributed to the success of the particular Rotary year; in a way, those who helped the DRR or District Governor do his job! Meaning, it’s really the District Rotaract Representative’s discretion to recognize and give awards to these people. However, to set “fairness” and boost the moral of the Rotaract clubs instead of chaos, the “awards” are based from certain criteria set ahead or during the early months of a Rotary year.

It is good to aim these awards both for the club and individual Rotaractors and include in the planning session. This is not for the award alone but as a subtle way of ensuring that the club will execute “quality” projects and activities. Usually, the award criteria is said to have a balance scoring system in all avenues of service; thus directing the “award criteria follower club” into an outstanding club.
For the award giving body – the District, it will be good that at the very start of the Rotary year, the criteria is announced and published already. This is to direct the focus of the clubs and align their plans with RI and district thrusts. The district may adopt its own Awards guidelines or borrow from the Rotary district’s system. Recently, the Multi-District Information Organization (MDIO) Pilipinas drafted a “standard” manual of procedures for the ten (10) Philippine Rotaract districts. The standard procedures for the awards are enclosed in a “Scoring System”. The scoring system has a detailed criteria, percentage and calculation. You may view the MDIO-Pilipinas’ award scoring system here . To balance the results, the DRR may invite and include panelists’ score during club presentation and deliberation against the raw scores from the submitted reports. This is because some of the criterion are subjective though guided with objective measures. The district and the DRR may also include special awards like Most Outstanding Rotarator of the Year, Most Promising Rotaractor of the Year, Most Outstanding President, etc. The district may also cite non-competitive awards like the Fashion Icon of the Year, the Congeniality and others to add individuals who marked the year in remarkable and fun way.

What I would like to emphasize here is, whatever system is selected, it is crucial and beneficial that the criteria is announced and published at the beginning of the Rotary year. This is for all concerned district, clubs and individuals be aware and guided with the guidelines at the very beginning of its operations.

My personal point of view about awards is that it boosts the moral of the Rotaract Clubs and Rotaractors. This is for the fact that we are all volunteers and expect no monetary compensation from our service. It is only through this recognition that the self worth of a club is given an emphasis. Really, it’s more than the award itself, its more than what we may simply display in our walls. Likewise, the awards definitely shape a deeper and greater accomplishment as club goals. The awards strongly guide the planning and execution of the said aims with high quality measures.

RI District 3800 MDIO Signing in Rotary Award's night pictures

RI District 3780 ROTARACT Award's Night pictures