AWARDS, NOMINATIONS

 From: PRODOS

Question:

"How do I choose nominations for the Capitalism Award?"

Background:

D2 - Sunday, December 2 - The "Capitalism Award" - Formally known as "The Annual International Freedom & Prosperity Award" will be presented to the individual in each city who has done most to defend and promote the principles of capitalism. And/or who, by his or her example, most gloriously embodies the spirit of capitalism.

The Capitalism Award will be presented each year on "Capitalism Day" - the first Sunday of December.

Nominations for the Capitalism Award may come from business, science, art, education, politics, invention, or any other field of creative, productive, human endeavour.

This year the award will take the form of a certificate, provided by The PRODOS Institute and signed by both PRODOS and the local coordinator. For next year we may get a medallion or some other item designed.

There will be a formal protocol available eventually for all cities to use. It's currently in draft form. In subsequent years, the date when the nominations process commences will be 4th of July. But for this first year, we can proceed with what we've got.

Ideally, a coordinator will put together an "Awards Committee" who will take on the job of researching nominations and even of inviting the public to offer nominations.

This will also provide a good publicity opportunity.

Suggestions: The first step is to find worthy nominations for the Award.

How?

- There may be someone in your city who you have always admired Nominate them!

- You can phone the local paper or media outlet, explain what you're doing, and ask them if one of the their reporters could talk to you about it. They might be able to suggest a nominee, or else put you on to someone else in you city who can be helpful.

- The local council is another starting point.

- A Business School or University

- What about a High School? Many of them

- What about one of the local politicians - from any side of politics? Don't assume, for example, that a Democrat is necessarily anti business. In Australia some of the Labor Party politicians are actually very pro business (although they have mixed premises)

- Ask yourself: Where can I find out about: inventors, scientists, artists, politicians, entrepreuners, business people, writers who might be likely candidates?

- Is there a Chamber of Commerce in your city whom you could contact?

Please note:

1. The nominee does NOT have to be "pure" - if I may put it that way. i.e. He or she doesn't have to be completely, consistently pro Capitalism at deepest, philosophical level. Just get the best person you can.

2. You don't necessarily have to find the absolutely best, most worthy person in your city. There will be other years and other Awards. All you need is to research the matter to a reasonable extent. Provided the person who ends up being nominated or receiving the award is a good and worthy person - that's good enough. In fact it's darn well fabulous! :-)

If the Award goes to Mr A, but later you find that Ms B would have been even better - don't worry about it. You just can't know everything about everyone. Our main task is to get the ball rolling. We'll get better at it as we go. And the public will start helping us and making our job easier over time. So please don't get uptight or make the whole thing unbearable for yourself. Okay? Do I have your word on that? :-)

Invitation:

I have a few more things I could say about the Award but let me, for now, invite you to send your questions, suggestions and comments to PLANET.

Thank you.

"Let's Walk!" :-)

From: PRODOS, Melbourne

To send in your nominations for the Capitalism Award
please use the form set up @
http://prodos.com/bulletin/capitalismaward.html

Or go to it via http://WalkForCapitalism.ORG

You may nominate someone in your own city or
in any other city.

Thank you to everyone who has already sent in nominations.
I'll get back to you soon.

In recognition of their leadership, courage and dedication to the
highest ideals of Global Freedom and Prosperity, the coordinator of
every city which stages a successful WalkForCapitalism event will receive
"The Honorary Capitalism Award for the Inaugural Year"
issued from PRODOS Institute, Melbourne.

Please see my PLANET post "WalkForCapitalism - Basic Version"
for clarification of what is a successful event.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProjectLeadersActionNetwork/message/228

[From: Mikhail Ramendik]

Hello,

We seem to have a main candidate for the Capitalism award in Russia.
Yegor Gaidar, the man who, as prime minister in 1992, started radical
capitalist reforms.

The reforms were not without serious flaws. [...] Yet this was the man who rocketed a more or less capitalist new Russia into existence.

Comments on him, and on other possible candidates in Russia, are
appreciated.

--
Best regards,

From: Prodos

Would all coordinators please now finalise their Capitalism Award nominations and winners and write to me with details so that I can start posting out the Certificates.

If you are having any problems at all with any of this, don't worry. Just write to me and we'll sort it out :-)

Thanks.

"Let's Walk!"

From: PRODOS

I've decided to send the Capitalism Award certificates as emailed attachments to each coordinator rather than snail-mailing them on this occasion.

I'll be working on finalising all the Awards that have already been decided, in the next 24 hours.

If you are having problems with choosing a recipient or aren't sure how to even get started on this whole thing, let me know and we'll sort it all out, okay? :-)

"Let's Walk!"

From: Prodos

I've had a few enquiries on this matter. Apologies for any confusion. Permit me to clarify:

1. There can only be one Capitalism Award per city i.e. no joint, shared or multiple Awards.

2. The Award must be issued to an individual. i.e. it may not go to an organisation or group.

Thank you for your attention.

:-)

"Let's Walk!"

[From: Rosemary Gately, Saratoga Springs Coordinator]

>I would like to mention at least some other >rewardees who might actually not be quite so famous > >If someone could send me a list, I'd appreciate it.

Below is the text of the award part of our D2 celebration and tells about our "rewardee," Kevin Richards.

===============================================================================

We are here today to celebrate the launch of Capitalism Day, a day on which we draw attention to the principles, the possibilities and the spirit of capitalism. And we are not alone.

More than 100 cities have joined "WalkForCapitalism." Today, individuals from every corner of the globe, and from every walk of life are defending, promoting, and celebrating capitalism. Cities in more than thirty countries are taking part, including: New York, Moscow, Hong Kong, Seattle, Oslo, London, Brussels, Paris, Prague, Warsaw, Toronto, Delhi, Budapest, Stockholm, Belgrade, Caracas and Bucharest.

One of the goals of the WalkForCapitalism project is to reclaim two terms appropriated by the left-"liberalism" and "capitalism." Historically, these were the words one used to refer to the political/social/economic system envisioned by America's Founding Fathers-a respect for individual rights, limited constitutional government with political, economic and intellectual freedom for all.

As a noun liberal means "an advocate or adherent of individual rights." As an adjective it means "of, favoring, or based upon the principles of liberalism, i.e., the belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual."

The left in this country, who believe the source of rights and the solution to all problems is government, has no legitimate right to the term "liberal." At the same time that they abuse the term "liberal," they blame all the evils of statist policies and government intervention on "capitalism," so that even many who believe sincerely in the principles of capitalism are reluctant to utter the word except as a sneer.

This is going to change! We are going to take back these terms-starting now.

I recommend that you read-and reread-the official position statement of WalkForCapitalism-The Bernstein Declaration On the Principles and Possiblilities of Capitalism-and listen critically when you hear capitalism referred to as "nationalistic," " cruel," or a "system of greed."

As part of today's celebration of Capitalism Day, coordinators in participating cities have the privilege of presenting the inaugural international Capitalism Award to an individual-from business, science, art, education, politics, invention, or any other field of creative, producive, human endeavor-who has defended and supported capitalism and/or best embodies the spirit of free enterprise.

There are several reasons for instituting the idea of annual international Capitalism Awards. They will provide concrete examples of capitalist principles in action-in human form. They will help institutionalize and entrench a positive perception of capitalism and its champions. They will help honest men to shift their focus, from the untruths uttered by the enemies of freedom, to the magnificent, constructive benefits all of us gain from the creative, productive, goal-directed activities under capitalism-that is, under freedom.

We have real life heroes all around us who are, at best, taken for granted, and most often, scorned as "greedy" or "uncaring." We will seek and reward these giants of virtue and value. Justice means "granting to each man that which he deserves." The Capitalism Award will be a form of "justice."

We, in Saratoga Springs, are proud of the young man we chose to receive our first ever Capitalism Award. I would like to tell you a little about him. I think you will agree that he "embodies the spirit of free enterprise."

He was raised in a modest home by a single mother who worked 12-hour days to provide for her two children. Early on he developed a deep passion for Country Music. After winning a prize that took him to a local radio station, he knew where he wanted most to be. He politely invited himself back for more visits. Joan Crane, one of the DJ's, befriended him, and soon he was working weekends at the station. He was just 12 years old at the time and had to obtain a child actor's permit to work.

He remained at this small station through his senior year in high school and then began moving to other local radio stations. When he came to realize that radio was not exactly a lucrative career, especially in a small market, he didn't give up what he loved doing. Instead, he sought ways to improve his financial situation while still pursuing his interest in radio. As others in his profession had done, and with the help of a friend, he started a DJ company. He discovered he enjoyed the challenge of marketing and finding new ways to entertain people with music.

The opportunity to make money doing what he loved to do enabled him to assist his mom with the family bills. And he could afford, finally, many things he had gone without as a child. His pride in what he had accomplished only increased his drive and determination to succeed. He obtained an Associates Degree from Adirondack Community College.

At the age of 22, he set his sights even higher. He decided to earn a college degree-he would be the first in his family to do so. This required that he cut back on his work load-and social life. But he was looking ahead and knew that pursuing a Bachelors in Mass Media and Communications was in his long-range best interests.

Throughtout his years at Plattsburg State University he commuted two hours, each way, twice a week to oversee his entertainment company in Albany and work part-time for WGNA to earn the money to pay his college tuition and expenses.

Working school dances and weddings, he found a niche that matched his personality and experience. He developed Kevin Richards Entertainment, providing line dance lessons and country themed entertainment. He began with a small group of 30 followers in a small run-down bar and then worked on promotion and marketing. Now he is the most popluar dance instructor/dj in the northeast with a following of nearly 300 regular dancers every week. He has been honored by the Northeast Country Music Association with the award for "Dance Instructor of the Year." He has been on the nationally televised show The Wildhorse Salloon on TNN, produced and hosted a dance show at Walt Disney World, and hosted a country dance on Norwegian Cruise Lines. He enjoys the freedom and creativity of operating and managing a small company.

His radio career parallels the success of his entertainment business. He uses many of those same entrepreneurial skills when he co-promotes and packages events for the radio station. He is also a satisfied client, buying advertising to promote his own country-themed events.

He has been honored by the Country Music Association with a CMA award nomination for "Broadcast Personality of the Year." He works at WGNA-FM, the number one rated radio station in Albany, NY, and at the age of 27 hosts the number one rated evening radio show in the Capital Region-out of all formats!

But he still has goals. He believes his degree in Communications and his extensive business experience make him a perfect candidate for a management position in the radio industry. I'm betting he makes it!

It is with great pleasure that I introduce the recipient of the 2001 Capitalism Award-Kevin Richards!

Capitalism isn't about money. It's about freedom!

Let walk! :-)

From: Prodos

Please note: There is no stipulation in the Capitalism Awards protocol that the "winner" or "recipient" has to agree with winning or that he or she even needs to accept the Award.

Of course, it is very nice if the winner formally accepts and then attends the presentation ceremony to publicly be applauded and given his Award.

But this is *not* a requirement.

A few coordinators have been concerned that their winner has not agreed to accept the Award. My advice is to completely ignore this. Announce the winner, and send him or her the Certificate.

The Award is *our* recognition of that individual's values and virtues. It is not an exchange of approvals.

Please go ahead and issue the Award for your city to the worthy individual of your choice.

Should the anti capitalists decide to single that individual out, they'll soon find out that the rules of the game have now changed. We are ready for them. We we will meet them on the streets, on the web, in the media, in the classrooms. We will defend the Producers and Creators of the world wherever they are, whatever it takes.

Thank you for your attention.

"Let's Walk!"

[From: PRODOS]

I think I've now sent all the coordinators their Capitalism Award certificate template.

If you haven't received one please write to me immediately or write to one of the other coordinators directly (not via PLANET) so that they can forward you a template.

Please only forward your template to a coordinator.

Apologies for the delay. I have been having very bad computer problems - including both worm and virus attacks yesterday which I think I've now purged.

"Let's Party!"

:-)

[From: Prodos

At long, long last, after several more crashes I've finally emailed, one by one, all 100 + coordinators their Award certificate template. At least I hope so.

If you have not received your certificate template, please write to me immediately or phone: Email: prodos@prodos.com Phone: + 613 9428 1234

Thanks.

"Let's Walk!" + "Let's Party!"