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Ophea Awards & Recognition

Ophea (Ontario Physical and Health Education Association) is dedicated to supporting Ontario school communities through advocacy, quality programs and services, and partnership building. Ophea is led by the vision that all kids will value, participat in, and make a lifelong commitment to active, healthy living.

Every year, Ophea presents a number of awards recognizing outstanding contributions to the fields of health, physical activity and H&PE. Ophea believes it is a priority to recognize excellence in the field by honouring distinguished individuals and organizations for their significant achievements.

Ophea Award of Distinction

• Presented to an individual who is a leader in the successful advancement of active, healthy livingopportunities for children and youth in Ontario school communities.
• The contributions of this nominee are provincial in scope.
• Demonstrated excellence in the areas of advocacy, partnership development, and/or the provision of quality, innovative programming.
• Made a long-term contribution to improving the health and well-being of Ontarios children and youth.
• The recipient of this award has devoted 15+ years of service and support to Ophea.
• Presented to an individual whos work impacts school communities (e.g. educators, public health workers, recreation providers, etc.)
• The Ophea Award of Distinction is presented in honour of Bing Caswell, a dedicated professional whose vision and commitment led to the advancement of knowledge and understanding in the field of health and physical education.

            Ophea Award of Distinction - Nomination Package

Ophea Award for Outstanding Contribution

• This award recognizes an individual, group, or organization for their exemplary contribution to the lives of children and youth in the areas of health and physical education, health and physical activity promotion, advocacy, and/or community development.
• This recipient works directly with children and youth.
• The work of this recipient can be local in scope.
• This recipient has positively impacted the physical activity levels, health, and educational experiences of children and youth they must have demonstrated results which prove their efforts.
• This recipient has developed a practical and innovative approach to teaching strategies, curriculum implementation, program/resource development, policy development, and/or health promotion.
• The nominee can be from any sector (i.e. teachers, administrators, public health professionals, school board consultants, parent councils, etc.) whose work positively contributes to the health and wellness of children and youth.
• It is not necessary for this recipient to have worked directly with Ophea.
• This award is presented in honour of Bill Paterson, a dedicated and generous individual who worked tirelessly to improve kids health.Throughout Opheas early years, Bill was devoted to supporting the organization and spent many years working as a volunteer for Ophea.

            Ophea Award for Outstanding Contribution - Nomination Package  

School Community Award

• This award is presented to a school community that has demonstrated leadership and excellence insuccessfully bringing together all members of the community (including parents, teachers, boards of education, public health, sport and recreation organizations, community coalitions, local businesses, and municipal governments).
• Their efforts have enhanced active, healthy living opportunities for children and youth within their community.
• The recipient has utilized the strengths and resources of the community to successfully create an environment that encourages and supports active, healthy living for children and youth within their school community.

            School Community Award - Nomination Package

Outstanding New Professional Award

• Presented to an individual who has been working in the health and education sector for five years or less.
• This recipient may: (A) be a fairly recent graduate and in the early years of their career OR (B) have been working for many years but just recently made a career change to join the health and physical education field.
• Although new to the field, this recipient has already demonstrated a passion for, and made a noteable contribution to, the advancement of active, healthy living for children and youth.
• This leader can be from any sector whose work is related to physical activity or health and physical education for children and youth.
• The winner of this award will also be recommended for nomination by Ophea to receive the CAHPERD Young Professional Award.

            Outstanding New Professional Award - Nomination Package

Nomination Information  

• All Ophea awards are presented at the Ophea Kids Health Conference (October 11-13, 2007).
• Candidates can be nominated for maximum of one award annually.
• To officially submit a nomination for the 2007 Ophea Awards, a Nomination Package must be completed in fulland submitted to Ophea. The Ophea Awards Nomination  Package consists of the following items:

            1. Nomination Form (must have two signatures)

            2. Summary of Nominee Eligibility form (a summary of how the nominee meets the award criteria)

            3. Additional work samples, letter(s) of support, newspaper articles, etc. included (not mandatory)

• The award descriptions reflect the eligibility requirements that must be addressed when nominating a recipient for an award.
• Nominations are assessed by an impartial awards committee.

The deadline for award nomination submissions is
Friday, September 7, 2007.  

In order to download the nomination packages, you will require Adobe Reader. You can download your free copy of Adobe Reader here.