MONTPELIER, Vt. – In a year when Vermonters’ lives have been dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Vermont Community Foundation and the organizing committee for the Con Hogan Award for Creative, Entrepreneurial, Community Leadership are pleased to announce that the 2020 award will go to the Vermont Department of Health.
The award this year recognizes the department and its staff for their commitment to Vermonters’ safety in this perilous time; their steady, data-driven leadership; and their tenacity in the face of chaos.
The Award Committee credited Vermont’s low Covid-19 positivity rates – among the lowest in the country – to VDH’s insights and action. They highlighted VDH’s early recognition of the dangers of the virus; their calm, quick, and expert response to reported outbreaks; and their consistently honest, straightforward, and compelling communication that has inspired Vermonters to keep each other safe during this pandemic.
In a break with previous years, the Award Committee decided to suspend the cash prize and its usual nomination process in 2020 and recognize the VDH – which has consistently demonstrated the award criteria this year – for its exemplary performance during this pandemic.
Initiated in 2015, the annual award is a tribute to Con Hogan, who died in 2018, and his life’s work and commitment to public service. The goal of the award is to encourage and reward leaders who share Con’s vision of a better Vermont – one that places the highest value on the public good – who seize the responsibility for making that vision real.
Over the past five years, a $15,000 cash prize has been awarded to an individual selected from among a pool of publicly submitted nominations. All Con Hogan Award winners exhibit the following qualities: focus on results, using data and measurement to mobilize action, working with people across diverse perspectives, taking risks in pursuit of the vision, and persisting through setbacks.
The award will be presented Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020 at a virtual celebration beginning at 12 p.m.