Every day we see examples of significant events that make headlines online and on our televisions. What we don’t see in the headlines is what you and your teams are doing to help bring order to the chaos around us. Submit an awards nomination so we can recognize and honor your work behind the headlines.

Our award winners come from every size community and we can’t know to consider someone if we don’t hear from you. Each nomination does take some time to fill out but that’s because we need your help to paint the complete picture of what happens in your organization.

Please tell us about your RF technician who responds in all hours of the day and night to ensure you can reach our public safety responders. We need to hear about how they went to a remote radio site on a major holiday so your search and rescue members could radio for a rescue helicopter to save a missing family member.

What about your team who coordinated the response of Coast Guard helicopters to pluck citizens off their roofs in the middle of the night because of flooding that occurred after a hurricane. We need to hear about the hero in your center who is not only that go-to dispatcher with any question, but is there to help coordinate peer team response or knows just the right time ask if you are okay or crack that joke to make your shift better.

Let’s not forget about your supervisors and directors who support your efforts day in and day out. Tell us about your supervisor who will take your mandatory overtime now and then or who helps your team through those long shifts. Does your director help find ways to improve your center and offer ways to encourage a fun working environment while maybe pushing you towards a leadership role?

Public safety telecommunicators tend to be the group that enjoys working behind the scenes while bossing around, I mean directing and assisting, those that are in the limelight of public safety. The awards committee asks that you break out of your comfort zone of “just doing your job” and to please brag about your center, your co-workers and your communities. Let our 9-1-1 community know that your center, big or small, is rocking it!

Nominations for the awards program are accepted January 1 to March 31, 2019. All nominations must be submitted online. For more information on how to submit an award please visit apcointl.org/awards.