MISSOULA – June 18, 2012

Humanities Montana seeks nominations for the 2013 Governor’s Humanities Awards, to be conferred at a February ceremony in Helena.

 “We’re honored to celebrate the achievements of hard-working, dedicated Montana citizens,” comments Ken Egan, Humanities Montana’s executive director.  “Our state is blessed with a breadth and depth of humanities talent.”

 Nominations should be no more than two word-processed pages and should address the nominee’s contributions to the humanities. Nominations for both individuals and organizations will be considered. Members of the Humanities Montana board and its staff are ineligible for consideration.

 The nomination deadline is Wednesday, Aug. 8. Nominations should be sent to Governor’s Humanities Awards, Humanities Montana, 311 Brantly, Missoula, MT 59812. For queries, write to the same address, call 406-243-6022 or 800-624-6001, or e-mail info@humanitiesmontana.org.

 There are no formal award categories. Considerations will focus on scholarship in and service to the humanities, the enhancement of public understanding of the humanities and other humanities-related endeavors. The humanities include the study of literature, history, philosophy, languages, religious studies and other disciplines.  Humanities Heroes are eligible for selection as a Governor’s Humanities Award recipient.

 Recent recipients of the Governor’s Humanities Award include Ellen Baumler, Julie Cajune, Richard Drake, Lowell Jaeger, Ron Perrin, and Joseph S. Sample in 2011.  A complete list of state humanities honorees is available at http://www.humanitiesmontana.org/programs/gha/index.php

 Since 1984, Humanities Montana has honored excellence in the humanities in Montana. In 1995, Gov. Marc Racicot and Humanities Montana, then the Montana Committee for the Humanities, conferred the first Governor’s Humanities Awards at a ceremony in Missoula. Awards ceremonies have occurred since in Great Falls, Billings and, since 2000, in Helena at the state Capitol.

 Humanities Montana is the state’s independent nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency that supports learning in history, philosophy, literature and other humanities disciplines. Founded in 1972, Humanities Montana provides grants for public humanities programs, statewide Speakers Bureau and Speakers in the Schools programs, and the annual Humanities Montana Festival of the Book.

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