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Recognize a Teammate’s Triumph
The Shining Stars Awards Luncheon is our annual, marquis event dedicated to recognizing the extraordinary progress, dedication, and success of team members who have overcome significant barriers to employment. It’s a chance for us to shine a light on our peers who embody the mission of Palmetto Goodwill through their daily work, commitment to growth, and inspiring resilience. Your thoughtful nomination helps us celebrate their journey, turning an individual’s achievement into inspiration for our entire community.
Why Should You Nominate?
Submitting a nomination is a meaningful way to acknowledge the hard work and progress of your peers.
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Elevate Success
- Recipients are honored with a special award and a monetary prize during the prestigious annual awards luncheon.
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Inspire Others
- Award stories serve as powerful testaments to the impact of Goodwill’s programs, encouraging other team members and service recipients.
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Formal Recognition
- The awards publicly acknowledge the nominee’s personal and vocational development, marking a significant milestone in their career.
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Show Your Appreciation
- Nominating is a tangible way to express admiration for a colleague’s dedication and acknowledge their role as a role model within the organization.
How to Craft a Winning Nomination
To give your colleague the best chance of winning, your nomination must be compelling and complete. Your submission should walk the judges through the nominee’s progress by providing well-thought-out responses to the questions. We want to know:
The Starting Point: Describe their initial job function(s) and the obstacle(s) they faced when they started working with your team.
The Journey: Detail the training efforts and support provided by you and your team to help the nominee overcome those disadvantages and pitfalls.
The Breakthrough: Identify any conditions they made you aware of that were holding them back and how Palmetto Goodwill was able to help them conquer those challenges.
The Impact: Clearly explain why they are deserving. Highlight how they have advanced—are they more social, more productive, more engaged, or a role model for others?
Honor an outstanding person with a disability or other disadvantaging condition who has shown great progress and accomplishment in overcoming barriers to employment, while still benefiting from the Goodwill work environment, or receiving services to support employment in the community. They serve as a role model and inspiration for all recipients of services in the Goodwill family.
This award will be presented to a person with a disability or other disadvantaging condition who has benefitted from a Goodwill program and who presents him/herself as an exemplary employee admired by their supervisors and co-workers.
Honor an outstanding person with a disability or disadvantaging condition who completed a Palmetto Goodwill job training program and is competitively employed by a non-Goodwill employer. This category pertains to Retail and AbilityOne employees with disabilities who graduated from a Goodwill program and were successfully placed in competitive employment in the community.
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Important Dates & Eligibility Requirements for All Nominees
- Nominee must have made outstanding progress in overcoming barriers to employment, as measured against goals set by professional Goodwill staff members. Consideration should be given to progress, productivity, and achievement.
- Nominee must have demonstrated significant personal and vocational adjustment and development.
- Nominee must have been employed at Palmetto Goodwill on or before January 1, 2025, and must have maintained employment up to and including the time of nomination.
- Nominee must be willing and able to communicate his/her Goodwill success story in their unique way.
- Previous nominees are eligible if they continue to meet all criteria.
Save the Date for the Award Ceremony
All Shining Stars Award recipients will be honored at the Awards Luncheon on May 6, 2026.