THE 9th ANNUAL LONG ISLAND IMAGINE AWARDS

To be eligible, the organization or executive must meet all of the following requirements:

• Recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) organization.
• Must significantly service Nassau and/ or Suffolk County communities.
• Must be innovative in operations, activities, etc.

The applications process is EASY and as follows: Applicant organizations may apply to multiple categories. After the organization completes and submits the online application, it will be reviewed by the selection committee in mid-December. If selected to move forward to the semi-finalist round, a member of the organization’s staff or volunteer board will meet with a member of the selection committee who will submit a summary of the interview and the application to the anonymous judging panel. The judges will then select the 20 finalist organizations from the pool of semi-finalists. The finalists are notified in early February and scheduled to tape their video between then and end of March.

The deadline to submit online nominations is November 30, 2020. All applicants will receive an email by December 17th, informing them whether they have made it to the semi-finalist round of the review process. All nominees that advance will be announced publicly, and will then be scheduled for interviews and tours by the Event Committee to take place by early-January, 2021. After the interviews are completed, the Event Committee will advance the names of the semi-finalists to the judging panel, who will select the 20 finalists, and ultimately, the five final winners. Finalists may be asked to meet and work with our video production team between January 30th and March 30th.

By applying, the organization agrees to respond to all email inquiries and coordinate with the Event Committee to be interviewed. If selected, the organization agrees to timely coordinate with our video production team and sign appropriate legal waivers, etc. Furthermore, applicants nominated as finalists will be provided 2 free tickets to the Gala. In addition, we will randomly be selecting names of applicants to receive free tickets to the event. Finally, we have added a text to donate feature that will provide an opportunity for finalists to receive donations the night of the event, and the weeks leading up to the event.

IMPORTANT TIP: The strongest applications are from those organizations whose staff, board, and volunteers have discussed each category prior to completing their applications. This means identifying and placing a focus on what each category being applied for is seeking to recognize. As opposed to relying on boilerplates, winning applicants will truly exemplify the ethos of the Long Island Imagine Awards in that the application will express how the organization is genuinely different from its peers in its respective category and how it specifically impacts Long Island.