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Membership Awards

STANDING OVATION AWARD 

This award is for individual contributors to the overall growth of NAACP Membership and awardee(s) must be submitted by the leadership of the Unit to Membership Services.  A winner from each Region will be chosen. In the case of multiple entries, National Staff will choose a winner based on the following criteria: 

NAACP CLUB 100 

This award is open to all Units, for the Membership Chair and team who signed up at least 100 new members between May 1, 2023, and June 17, 2024.  Members must be reported in the Membership Portal on or before June 17, 2024.  Awards will be available for pick up immediately following the National Membership Luncheon on Monday, July 15, 2024. 

PRESIDENT'S CIRCLE 

This award is open to all Units and for the Membership Chair and team who sold at least $5000.00 in memberships between May 1, 2023, and June 17, 2024.  Awards will be available for pick up immediately following the National Membership Luncheon Monday, July 15, 2024. 

Benjamin L. Hooks Keeper of the Flame Award 

The NAACP Benjamin L. Hooks "Keeper of the Flame" Award was established in 1992 in honor of the late Benjamin Lawson Hooks, the fifth Executive Director of the NAACP (1977-1992). This award recognizes individuals who demonstrate exceptional service in advancing the objectives of the NAACP, the labor movement, and the NAACP Labor Committee.

The award is presented to individuals who:

  • Distinguish themselves by significantly contributing to racial equality and fairness in the workplace and society.
  • Enthusiastically support civil rights, worker rights, and justice for all people.
  • Foster and encourage positive outcomes in civic engagement and the political process, locally and/or nationally.
  • Display outstanding leadership qualities.
  • Uphold and practice the tenets of a democratic society, including the belief that all people are created equal and that freedom is a God-given right that must be vigilantly protected at all times and at all levels of government.

2024 recipients:

  • Bobby Bivens
  • Brendien Mitchell
  • Charles F. Spencer
  • Tom Savage

ELLA JO BAKER AWARD 

Ella Baker began her involvement with the NAACP in 1940. She worked as a field secretary and then served as director of branches from 1943 until 1946. Inspired by the historic bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, Baker co-founded the organization In Friendship to raise money to fight against Jim Crow Laws in the deep South. In 1957, Baker moved to Atlanta to help organize Martin Luther King's new organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). She also ran a voter registration campaign called the Crusade for Citizenship. 

The Ella Jo Baker Award will be awarded to the top three Units in each category with the highest membership percent increase between May 1, 2023, and June 17, 2024. Five awards will be presented during the National Membership Luncheon Monday, July 15, 2024:

  • Units that started with 100 or less. 
  • Units that started with 101-250 members. 
  • Units that started with 251-500 or more. 
  • Units that started with 501 or more. 

2024 recipients:

100 or Less recipients
  • 7084-B Loudoun County Branch
  • 7077-B Henrico County Branch
  • 7124-B Virginia Beach Branch
  • 7118-B Stafford County Branch
  • 2165-B Northern Dutchess Co.
101-250 recipients
  • 7069-B Fredericksburg Branch
  • 7066-B Fairfax County Branch
  • 7047-B Arlington Branch
  • 77076-B Hanover County Branch
  • 7092-B Montgomery/ Radford /Floyd Co. Branch
251-500 recipients
  • 3141-B Western Wayne County
  • 4050-B Minneapolis Branch
  • 2185-B White Plains/Greenburgh Branch
  • 51AC-B South Dade Branch
  • 5034-B Huntsville/Madison County Branch
501+ recipients
  • 7075-B Hampton Branch
  • 5603-B Memphis Branch
  • 5139-B Hillsborough Branch
  • 7022-B Montgomery County Branch
  • 3098-B Louisville Kentucky Branch

LUCILLE BLACK AWARDS 

Lucille Black retired as national membership secretary of the National Association for the   Advancement of Colored People. Miss Black joined the association in 1927 and became membership secretary in 1945. Her duties expanded to include planning, coordinating and supervising membership drives, acknowledging and recording memberships and attending branch meetings throughout the country. 

For the Membership Chair and Unit with the highest total of new memberships added between May 1, 2023, and June 17, 2024.  Two separate awards for Adult and Youth and College will be presented during the National Membership Luncheon on Monday, July 15, 2024. 

2024 recipients:

  • 5139-B Hillsborough Branch
  • 5983-B Memphis Youth Council

THE CHAIRMAN'S IMPACT AWARD 

This award is given to the top Unit and team that has earned or qualified for all the awards and received the highest in each category. 

To qualify, your Unit must have: 

  • 100 or more active members between May 1, 2023, and June 17, 2024.  
  • Raised $5000 or more in membership revenues (includes corporate) between May 1, 2023, and June 17, 2024.   
  • Increased membership by at least 25%. The winners will have increased membership by the highest percentage growth in the past year. 

2024 recipient:

5603-B Memphis Branch

CENTENNIAL UNIT AWARDS 

This award is recognition of those Units that celebrated 100 years as a chartered Unit in the current year.  For this year, we will recognize units that have reached this centennial milestone within the last five years.