Start With The Person, Then The Proof
A good nomination begins with a clear picture of the person and the help they give. Tell us what they did, who benefited, and how the support showed up in daily life. A strong entry sounds specific, not dramatic. It names the place, the people involved, and the kind of effort that makes a difference in a suburb, township, school, clinic, church group or neighbourhood.
Across Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Gqeberha and Polokwane, the strongest nominations usually stay close to real moments. A volunteer who organised food parcels. A carer who checks in after hours. A teacher who stayed after class to help a learner catch up. A neighbour who stepped in when the pressure rose. Those details carry more weight than broad praise.
- Use plain facts first, then add a short personal story.
- Name the community, street, school or organisation where the help happened.
- Show what changed for other people, not only how admirable the nominee seems.
Useful Evidence That Holds Up In Review
Evidence does not need to be complicated. Photos, letters, voice notes, screenshots, community messages and short written accounts can all help, if they clearly match the story you are telling. The review process looks for consistency between the nomination text and the supporting material.
When possible, include dates or time periods in ordinary language. A note about a winter food drive, a school transport run, or weekly visits to an elderly neighbour gives useful context. If you have several examples, choose the ones that show steady service rather than a single moment that is easy to describe but hard to verify.
- Choose material that shows the nominee in action.
- Keep copies clear and readable where names or places appear.
- Avoid sending unrelated files that do not help the review.
- Leave out anything that could expose another person without good reason.
Consent, Privacy And Sensitive Details
The nominee should know their name is being submitted and should agree to it where possible. That matters because a public nomination can draw attention, and not every person wants their story shared in the same way. If the nominee is unable to give direct consent, explain the situation carefully and only submit what is appropriate.
Privacy is treated seriously. Keep personal contact details out of public wording, and think twice before adding medical notes, family disputes, address details or anything that could place someone at risk. The Privacy and Consent Officer works with the team on questions that involve personal information, and the programme keeps sensitive material limited to what is needed for the nomination itself.
- Use the nominee’s full name only when consent has been given.
- Share private details only when they are truly relevant.
- Keep children, patients and vulnerable people protected in your wording.
How The Judging Criteria Read On Paper
Judging is based on plain criteria that can be read in the nomination itself. Reviewers look for clear community benefit, steady effort, local relevance and honest support from the evidence. A nomination does not need to sound polished. It does need to make sense, with enough detail for the judging process to understand what happened and why it matters.
Some entries are strong because they show long-term care. Others stand out because they describe a difficult moment where someone stepped in without being asked. Either way, the story should remain grounded. The programme is not looking for the loudest account. It is looking for proof that the person helped others in a real and useful way.
If you are unsure where a nomination fits, the team in Braamfontein can still help you work through the structure through our contact form. The same applies to nominations from the branch areas linked to Gauteng, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, the Free State, North West and Mpumalanga.
What To Update After Submission
Sometimes a nomination needs a small correction. A name may have been misspelled, a date may need tightening, or a supporting note may need to be clarified. Keep updates short and focused on the facts. Do not rewrite the whole story if only one section has changed.
Public questions usually focus on the shape of the nomination, the use of evidence, or whether the nominee has seen the entry. After you submit, keep an eye on the details you entered so any follow-up is easy to explain. That makes the review process cleaner and helps the nomination stay consistent from start to finish.
- Update spelling, dates or context if something was entered incorrectly.
- Send the corrected information with the same nominee details.
- Keep the wording steady if the story has not changed.
When A Short Story Needs More Substance
A warm tribute is a good start, but a strong nomination needs more than praise. It should show what the nominee did, who felt the benefit, and how often the help showed up. That is the difference between a nice message and a nomination that can be properly read and considered.
If your first draft sounds too general, add one or two concrete moments. Mention the meal delivered to a family in crisis, the lift to a clinic, the extra reading help after school, or the neighbour who checked in through a hard month. Specific examples make the story stronger without making it feel formal or stiff.
Thandeka Nomvula Mokoena leads the programme from Braamfontein, Johannesburg with Kagiso Daniel Molefe, Ayesha Fatima Khan, Siphesihle Zanele Dlamini, Pieter Jacobus van Wyk and Lerato Michelle Maseko supporting the nomination flow, outreach, judging notes and privacy checks.