Nominations sought for Florida Folk Heritage Awards

FLORIDA – The Florida Department of State is looking for nominations for the 2024 Florida Folk Heritage Awards.

The awards are given out every year to people who have done great things for Florida’s traditional cultures.

“Each year, the Florida Folk Heritage Awards seek to honor and recognize excellence in folk and traditional arts and the community impact of Florida’s tradition bearers,” said Secretary of State Cord Byrd.

“The Florida Folk Heritage Awards highlight our state’s unique cultural heritage by acknowledging distinguished Floridians for their skills and accomplishments in the traditional arts.”

Folklife is a wide range of creative things, like art, crafts, dance, language, music, rituals, and so on. These cultural traditions are shared among community, ethnic, occupational, religious, and regional groups. They are taught by word of mouth and by showing people how to do them.

People whose art or advocacy has shown the best of traditional culture in their communities should be nominated.

Nominations should include information about the nominee’s achievements and background and why he or she deserves statewide recognition for preserving an important part of the state’s cultural history. The Florida Folklife Council will be able to judge nominees better with help from photos, slides, audio-visual samples, and letters.

Each nomination also needs at least two letters of support from people in the community, colleagues, peers, cultural experts, or anyone else who can confirm the nomination details and the nominee’s qualifications.

The people who will get the awards will be named in January 2024.

Nominations must be postmarked no later than November 1, 2023, and mailed to Florida Folklife Program, 500 S Bronough, Tallahassee, Florida 32399. Nominations can also be emailed to folklife@dos.myflorida.com.

For more information about the Florida Folk Heritage Awards or the Florida Folklife Program, contact State Folklorist Dominick Tartaglia at (850) 245-6780.

Guidelines, award policies, and past winners are at https://dos.myflorida.com/cultural/programs/florida-folklife-program/folk-heritage-awards/.