Nominees for the Woman of Achievement award are now being taken.

One award is presented to a community member and another is given to someone from Eastern’s campus.

The awards will be presented at the annual Women’s History and Awareness Month awards ceremony.

According to a press release, the awards are meant to recognize women who help improve the quality of women’s lives and advance the status of women in the area.

The awards ceremony also acknowledges and celebrates the achievements of students and others in the community.

“We have a community full of deserving women, and we want to honor them,” said Jonelle DePetro, chair of the Woman of Achievement Awards Committee and a 2002 recipient of the award, in the press release.

Terry Coulton, “known to many for her work with the area’s underserved,” according to the press release, and Dana Gilbertsen, active in women’s issues at Eastern, won the Woman of Achievement award last year.

The nomination process includes filling out the nominee’s information and a brief description of her contributions to the community. The form can be found at https://www.eiu.edu/women/WHAM.php.

Another option is to describe the nominee’s contributions, with their contact information, and email them to lsashley@eiu.edu.

The deadline to nominate someone is Wednesday, March 1.

“It’s so important to acknowledge the contributions of women in our community,” DePetro said. 

The News desk can be reached at 581-2812 or dennewsdesk@gmail.com.