Each year, the "We Are Worth It." Awards honor extraordinary Pennsylvanians who have made remarkable contributions to their communities. Help us honor our essential workers at the Solutions Conference! Winners are nominated by PAR Provider Members, who have chosen them from amongst tens of thousands of self advocate employees, ID/A professionals, and community employers across the commonwealth.

The Awards Ceremony is a major highlight of the Annual PAR Solutions Conference which welcomes leaders from the Intellectual Disability and Autism community. During this time, award recipients are often moved to tears as they understand how valued they are by their communities. This year’s ceremony will take place on November 13, 2024. Please plan to join us for this very special ceremony and help us to make it special for all who are involved!

We look forward to hearing the stories of your community champions, especially those who went above and beyond throughout the tough times caused by the global pandemic. Honor these difference-makers by nominating them today!


Nomination Instructions
Deadline: Nominations are due no later than Friday, July 26, 2024. Nominators will be notified of winners in September. After winners are selected, all nominators will receive a packet to give to their nominee, which includes a copy of the submitted nomination. We want each nominee to know that they are appreciated and valued!
Awards Categories: The "We Are Worth It." Awards honor one winner in each of the following categories:
  • Self Advocate Employee of the Year: This award honors an outstanding self advocate employed at a community business who exemplifies drive and passion for their chosen work. This individual demonstrates all of the finest qualities of a top performing employee: positive attitude, integrity, initiative, dependability, strong work ethic, leadership, professionalism, customer service excellence, collaboration and being goal-oriented. 
  • Community Employer of the Year: This award honors an outstanding community employer (not an ID/A provider agency) who has demonstrated innovative leadership and exceptional support and hiring practices for individuals with intellectual disabilities and/or autism. This award winner has consistently set policies and demonstrated positive approaches for hiring, training, and supporting employees with intellectual disability and/or autism so they can succeed on the job and contribute to company goals, particularly those employees with complex employment challenges.
  • Frontline Manager of the Year: This award will honor an outstanding Frontline Manager who has demonstrated innovative leadership practices through change agent action. This individual leads by example and develops engaging teams of high performing Direct Support Professionals. This leader has successful relationships with all stakeholders and ensures the highest quality services through strong, trusting relationships with staff, individuals, families, support coordinators, team members and community members.
  • Behavior Support Professional of the Year: This award will honor an outstanding Behavior Support Professional who has demonstrated extraordinary and innovative support and action that lead people with intellectual disability and/or autism who have challenging behavior needs to live meaningful and inclusive lives. This winner will be honored for transforming lives by supporting people with positive approaches to achieve their personal outcomes while actively engaging in their communities.
  • Job Coach of the Year: This award will honor an employee offering face to face employment support and has demonstrated extraordinary and innovative support and action that lead people with intellectual disability and/or autism to gain and maintain integrated, competitive employment. This winner will be honored for transforming lives by supporting people to achieve their personal employment outcomes whether that be through the job search process, during interviews or during work shifts. This award is open to Employment Specialists, Job Coaches, Job Placement Specialist, or any other employee offering employment supports. 
      • Emerging Direct Support Professional of the Year: This award will honor an outstanding Direct Support Professional (DSP), who has held this position for less than a year, who has demonstrated extraordinary support and action that lead people with intellectual disability and/or autism to live meaningful and inclusive lives. This winner will be honored for transforming lives by supporting people to achieve their personal outcomes while actively engaging in their communities.
      • Direct Support Professional Length of Service Award: This award will honor an outstanding Direct Support Professional (DSP), who has held this position for more than 10 years, who has demonstrated extraordinary and innovative support and action that lead people with intellectual disability and/or autism to live meaningful and inclusive lives. This winner will be honored for transforming lives by supporting people to achieve their personal outcomes while actively engaging in their communities.
      • Direct Support Professional Advocate of the Year: This award will honor an outstanding Direct Support Professional (DSP) who not only excels at supporting individuals with intellectual disability and/or autism to live meaningful and inclusive lives, but also to advocate on their behalf to improve the ID/A community and empower individuals toward self-advocacy. This winner will be honored for using their voice to transform the lives they support. 
      • Direct Support Professional Family Relationship Award: This award will honor an outstanding Direct Support Professional (DSP) who not only excels at supporting individuals with intellectual disability and/or autism to live meaningful and inclusive lives, but also has strong relationships with the families of the individuals supported. This DSP has strong communication skills to update and incorporate family members in the care of their loved ones.
      Award Winners: Award Winners will be honored during the Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, November 13 and will receive:
      • An award presented to them during the Awards Ceremony
        • A copy of their nomination
        • Recognition in advocacy materials throughout the year
        • A $100 cash prize along with their award
        Nomination Instructions:
        • Your organization must be a PAR Provider Member to submit a nomination.
        • Organizations may submit no more than one nomination for each category.
        • There will be one winner for each category.
        • Nominations must be between 300-350 words.
        • Nominations should give clear examples of how the nominee has fulfilled the award description. They should also highlight community involvement.
        • Include high resolution photo(s) that show the nominee with those they have impacted as they work in their community.
        • Please use person-first language in your nomination.
        • Take the time to write and save your nomination in Microsoft Word and then copy and paste into this form. Internet browsers can time-out, leaving you without a nomination after a lot of hard work! Writing in Word will also allow you to easily edit and save your nomination before submitting through this portal.

        Questions: Contact Lauren Wagner at lauren@par.net or (717) 236-2374 with any questions.

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