NRV Leading Lights is seeking volunteer award nominations from across the New River Valley (NRV) for the 2025-26 year.
Leading Lights awards are focused on the impact of a volunteer’s work and leadership.
The website is open to accept nominations for the 18th annual awards. The nomination deadline is April 10, 2026. Nominations should be submitted via the online form found at https://leadinglightsnrv.org/nominations. Those who have been nominated before but not selected as a Distinguished Recipient may be nominated again.
Individuals and organizations are highly encouraged to submit nominations for outstanding New River Valley volunteers they know or volunteer with. Administrators, teachers, guidance counselors, club sponsors, and youth mentors are asked to nominate young people for the high school and college awards. Groups and organizations cannot be nominated for awards.
NRV Leading Lights awardees are engaged in diverse volunteer activities across the NRV. Collectively they spend thousands of hours over their lifetimes volunteering with clothing banks, rescue and disaster relief teams, as youth mentors, managing holiday programs, overseeing weekend food backpack programs, helping at local food kitchens, serving with civic groups, community building, and volunteering with many other local charitable activities and programs.
Awards are given in three categories: community (seven awards), high school (two awards), and college (two awards). In the community award category, an award is reserved for a volunteer in each county/city of the New River Valley (Floyd County, Giles County, Pulaski County, Radford City), two in Montgomery County (due to population size), and one across the entire NRV to recognize Lifetime Volunteer Achievement. Nominees must be current residents of the NRV. If being nominated for a student category, they must be currently enrolled in a school/college in the NRV.
Distinguished Recipients in each category will be selected on the following criteria: strong community involvement; demonstrated lifestyle of dedicated, continuous, long-term involvement to the community; proven leadership; and creativity in initiating and implementing projects that lead to a better quality of life.
The NRV Leading Lights organization recognizes volunteers in the New River Valley each year who are making community-changing impacts culminating in an annual celebratory banquet scheduled for April 30, 2026. The organization honors Distinguished Recipients by making a monetary donation to the non-profit of their choice. For more information, contact NRV Leading Lights Board of Directors at leadinglightsnrv@gmail.com or visit https://leadinglightsnrv.org/.
NRV Leading Lights
