Awards

Butler Awards - Deadline July 31, 2022

The This award is presented each year by the commission to a person(s) who has contributed to advancing the cause of human rights. Dorothy and Eugene T. Butler Human Rights Award is named after the Butlers, in recognition of their lifelong advocacy in human rights issues on the local, regional, and national levels. The annual award recognizes significant volunteer efforts on behalf of human rights. 

2022 Press Release (PDF)
Nomination Form - Butler Award (PDF)


2021 Recipient  

2021 Butler Award Winner - Kas Williams (Link)

Previous Recipients

Youth Awards - Deadline TBD

The Youth Award is presented by the Commission to the individual or group of local youth that promote and/or contribute to Human Rights in the Brookings area and abroad. Activities the Commission is aware of that would be worthy of a Youth Award include, but are not limited to:

  • Collecting money for a human rights related organization/cause
  • Organizing a human rights related activity
  • Collecting food/clothing/personal hygiene items for local or national organizations

Since the Human Rights Commission hopes to recognize the creativity and uniqueness of our youth, we ask students not be nominated for participation in class activities or pre-organized events. However, any additional activity that comes as a result of a class activity or pre-organized event would be a welcome nomination. To keep our awards timely, we also ask nominations be limited to events that have occurred since June 2020. If you are nominating youth for participation in connection with a service agency, a letter on agency letterhead, dated and signed by the director, must accompany the nomination form.

Youth Ally Awards

The Brookings Human Rights Commission Youth Ally Award recognizes an adult who has inspired local youth to become involved in human rights activities and initiatives, either locally or abroad.  Some examples would be serving as a mentor or providing financial support to a youth human rights project.  The Youth Ally Award is an award where someone in the community nominates an adult for special recognition.

Info for Both Awards

This is a great opportunity to showcase our youth along with their allies, and we do not want to see nominees who we are unable to be recognized due to no fault of their own. In reviewing the nomination form, please note two important things:

  • Parent and/or guardian contact information is required for all Youth Awards. It is necessary for us to send notice to the youth and their parent/guardian. Nominations that do not supply this information will be considered incomplete and sent back to the nominator as such.
  • Late applications will not be accepted. Nominations received after the deadline will be considered for the 2022 Youth Awards.
  • Nominations must be received by 5pm on Tuesday, June 30. 

All nominations will be considered and reviewed by the Brookings Human Rights Commission. When the final selection for the 2021 Youth Award and Youth Ally Award recipients have been made, the Commission will notify the recipients and the public. 

2022 Press Release (PDF)
Nomination Form - Youth Award (PDF)
Nomination Form - Youth Ally Award (PDF)

Previous Recipients