The National CERT Awards recognizes outstanding achievement and contribution by an individual or program to their community and/or the nation.  The National CERT Association (NCA) has a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with FEMA’s Individual and Community Preparedness Division (ICPD) to hold National CERT Awards.

This year, the 2022 National CERT Awards Ceremony will be held during the National CERT Conference on Thursday, August 18, 2022.  Award winners do not need to attend the National CERT Conference to win.  Winners who cannot attend the conference in person will be able to join the event via zoom.

This is the first year that the National CERT Association will be holding the National CERT Awards.  Due to the pandemic, many programs and individuals may not have been active over the past few years.  To account for this, and to recognize the great work that was done before and during the pandemic, the 2022 National CERT Awards will recognize activity and contributions between January, 2019 through December, 2021.

The 2022 National CERT Awards will include the following categories:
  • Volunteer of the Year - to be awarded to a CERT volunteer for outstanding service and dedication to their CERT program and/or community
  • CERT Leader of Year - to be awarded to an individual for outstanding leadership for their CERT program or the CERT program as a whole
  • CERT Program of the Year - to be awarded to a CERT program for outstanding impact in community preparedness, resiliency, and/or disaster response
  • Best CERT Innovation - to be awarded to the program or individual that has made the most outstanding and/or influential CERT related innovation
Candidates can nominate themselves or be nominated by another party.  All nominations must include:
  1. Contact information for the nominee
  2. A narrative that describes nominee’s activity and supports why they deserve to win the award
  3. Minimum of one letter of support from a CERT Sponsoring Agency or a State/Territory/FEMA CERT Coordinator
Applicants can attach up to 10 additional support documents including additional letters of support, program reports, news articles, photos, etc.

All applications must be received by 5:00pm pacific time on Friday, July 22, 2022 for consideration.

A awards committee will review and score the applications.  Award winners will be notified two weeks after the application deadline closes.

Applications will be judged using a scoring matrix that will have the following considerations:
  1. Impact to the community/nation
  2. Community Preparedness component
  3. Equity/Inclusion component
  4. Uniqueness of the activity/contribution
  5. Supporting documents


    If you have any questions about the 2022 National CERT Awards, please contact the Awards Chair, Liliana Encinas, at liencinas@santabarbaraca.gov.

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