Golden Eagle Awards Ceremony tonight

United Way is thrilled to announce the virtual Golden Eagle Awards ceremony will take place tonight, July 21st at 7 pm on the United Way of Central Georgia website. United Way of Central Georgia took the reins of the Golden Eagle Awards earlier this year upon The Telegraph’s announcement that it would no longer be able to keep the 42-year scholarship program alive. When United Way took over the program with short notice, leadership knew there would be challenges to keep the program going, but had no idea of the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic would present. In March, United Way suspended the program temporarily and postponed the in-person judging scheduled for March 21st and awards ceremony set for May 4th. Since the postponement, United Way staff, Golden Eagle judges, and nominated students held virtual judging in June and are excited to announce this year’s Golden Eagle Awards scholarship winners tonight, July 21st.
 
Since 1977, the Golden Eagle Awards have celebrated outstanding high school seniors in 13 categories including: Art, Athletics, Citizenship, Drama, English Literature, Industrial/ Vocational, Journalism/Marketing & Communication, Math, Music, Science, Social Science, Technology and World Languages. Those seniors were nominated by their schools and then judged by local experts in their category of nomination. The winner in each category receives recognition at an annual award show, a Golden Eagle trophy, and a $1,000 scholarship. Another 13 honorable mentions are also selected, who each receive a certificate and $300 prize. This year, United Way has added a 14th category recognizing an outstanding ROTC student with the Superintendent’s Scholarship. The award program has been moved to a virtual ceremony to meet social distancing requirements and guidelines.
  
One hundred and seventy-eight students were nominated by their teachers, coordinators, and administrators for this year’s Golden Eagle Awards. The awards program will begin promptly at 7 pm on July 21st at https://www.unitedwaycg.org/GEAwards.