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Michigan Heritage Awards The Michigan Heritage Awards honor individuals who continue their family and community folk traditions with excellence and authenticity. The program was established in 1985 to call attention to Michigan's exceptional tradition bearers and supporters of traditional culture whose contributions to our state's heritage had not been recognized previously. Awards are annually presented in three categories: material culture, performance, and community leadership. Material culture includes traditions that can be touched. Performance includes traditions of music, song, dance, foodways, and storytelling. A community leader should be someone who promotes, supports, and helps to maintain a community's folk traditions. These individuals need not be artists themselves but in a few instances they have been. [Click here for list of all awardees] How can I nominate someone? Nominations are usually submitted by someone who knows the nominee well; family members, friends, community members, and even students of honorees have submitted nominations. Nominations must include a completed nomination form, at least two letters of support from community members, and a description of the tradition bearer's skill and personal biography. Depending on the type of tradition, the nomination package must also include photographs or samples of their work and/or audio tapes of performances. Nominations and supporting materials must be hand-delivered or postmarked by December 1 each year. [click here to download MHA Nomination Form A: Arts (Performance and Material Culture)] [click here to download MHA Nomination Form B: Community Leadership] Who selects the awardees and what do they look for? A panel of invited specialists reviews the applications in early January. They look for strong evidence of community or family support, excellence of contribution or artistry, mastery of art form, a description of the tradition, and an explanation of the meaning and value of the tradition to the particular family or community. When are the awards given? Announcements of the awardees are made in February. Awards are conferred at a special ceremony at the Great Lakes Folk Festival in August and recipients are also recognized in the program for the annual Governor's Arts Award ceremony in November. For more information about the Michigan Heritage Award Program. Contact Yvonne Lockwood, by phone (517-353-9678 or 355-0368), by email (lockwoo2@msu.edu), or write: Michigan Traditional Arts Program Michigan State University Museum Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan  48824-1045 The Michigan Heritage Awards Program is administered by the Michigan State University Museum's Michigan Traditional Arts Program with support from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. © 2003 Michigan State University