Are you THE ONE?

This Award is intended to recognize an individual whose extraordinary service activities exemplify the Rotary ideal of Service Above Self.

We are looking for a caring individual who truly puts Service Above Self and;

• Gives totally to the cause
• Dedicates his/her daily life to the improvement of mankind
• Advocates for humanity
• Works for the highest standard of good
• Acts with compassion and kindness
• Can come from any part of the world, regardless of gender or ethnic background.

THE AWARD

• The winner of THE ONE 2023 will receive US$100,000* to go towards his/her humanitarian efforts
• The two runners-ups will each receive US$50,000* to go towards their humanitarian efforts.
• The Rotary or Rotaract Club that endorses the winner will receive US$5,000* to support their service projects.
  *The cash prizes will go towards the awardees’ and the Rotary/Rotaract Club’s service projects.

CRITERIA

• Candidates must have provided outstanding and remarkable services to mankind;
• Candidates must have demonstrated daily dedication and continued devotion to humanitarian efforts; and
• Candidates must have promoted integrity and advanced world understanding, goodwill and peace through their humanitarian efforts.

ELIGIBILITY

• Candidates must be an individual aged 21 or above. There is no limitation as to sex, race and nationality.
• Candidates must have at least two years of humanitarian experience.
• Candidates cannot be *Rotarians, Rotaractors, employees of a club, district or other Rotary entity or of Rotary International. Spouses, lineal descendants, and ancestors of persons in the foregoing categories are also ineligible.
  * This rule also applies for any ex-Rotarian who has left Rotary for less than three years.
• The award will not be presented posthumously.
• Any candidate previously awarded a cash prize from THE ONE (Int’l) Award will not be eligible to apply again; all others are welcome to apply more than once.
• Candidates belonging to an NGO that has previously received a cash prize from THE ONE will not be eligible to apply.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF CANDIDATES, FINALISTS AND WINNER

•  Candidates are responsible for keeping THE ONE award organising committee updated on any changes in their information or progress of their service projects as required.
• Candidates agree to fully co-operate with their Nominator, the Endorsing Rotary/Rotaract Club and THE ONE Organising Committee for their nomination.
• Candidates should ensure that all information provided to THE ONE Organising Committee is true and correct.
• For award prize release procedures, please observe the guidelines on THE ONE website.
• The winner of THE ONE will act as a spokesperson for THE ONE and may not represent any other award during their year of tenure as THE ONE winner.
• Any materials taken by THE ONE of the finalists or awardees including interviews, photographs and videos etc, remain the exclusive property of THE ONE.
• The three finalists must be available for promotion and interviews and THE ONE reserves the right to use any materials produced in whole or in part as promotional materials.
• THE ONE organising committee reserves the right to use all materials submitted by candidates including photos and videos for promotional materials.
• The three finalists are required to attend THE ONE Award Gala Dinner (to be scheduled) in Hong Kong and should be responsible for their personal health and wellbeing for the duration.
• THE ONE Committee reserves all rights to the following conditions:

–     Any candidate nominated for THE ONE can be removed from consideration for THE ONE if there is any misconduct or wrongdoing or scandal associated with the charity he/she represents.

–       The spokesperson must demonstrate integrity and exemplify as a role model to others in the community. THE ONE reserves the right to suspend or terminate his/her role as a spokesperson for THE ONE, if the winner fails to maintain good standing during his/her term.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF NOMINATOR AND ENDORSING ROTARY/ROTARACT CLUB

• The nominator and endorsing Rotary or Rotaract club should understand and be familiar with the candidate and their work before submitting their nomination for THE ONE (Int’l) award.
• The nominator and endorsing club should ensure that all contents submitted for the nomination are true and correct.
• The nominator and endorsing club should ensure they have a full understanding of the award criteria, eligibility and their responsibilities as a nominator and endorsing club.
• The nominator and endorsing club will act as a liaison between THE ONE (Int’l) and the candidate and assist if any communication problem occurs.
• If the candidate becomes a finalist of THE ONE (Int’l), the endorsing club should assist them in completing the project proposal and reports as required by THE ONE’s stewardship sub-committee.
• The endorsing club is responsible for overseeing and ensuring that the prize money given by THE ONE (Int’l) to the awardee is used in accordance with the approved proposal. The endorsing club’s duty is to ensure that due diligence is carried out.
• The endorsing club should assign a responsible Club Officer (President/President-Elect/Person-in-Charge) to oversee and ensure the awardee completes their project. This Officer should study the documents “Award Prize Release Procedures” and “Criteria to be Observed by THE ONE Awardees” to perform their required duties (both documents are available on the website).
• The responsible Club Officer should counter-sign all bills submitted by the awardee to the stewardship sub-committee for their proposed project.
• The endorsing club of the winner of THE ONE award will receive 50% of its prize money (US$2,500) after the awardee’s project proposal is approved by the stewardship committee and the remaining balance of US$2,500 upon the completion of the awardee’s project.

DEADLINE

• Completed nomination forms with all supporting documents should be sent to following address by June 30 2023: THE ONE Humanitarian Awards by Rotary District 3450, Rotary Information Centre, 14/F Capital Commercial Building, 26 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong OR emailed to nominate@theoneintl.org 

Late or incomplete nomination forms will not be considered

NOMINATION GUIDELINES

• A complete nomination will include the Nomination Form and a ‘Humanity Service Description Form’ (to be downloaded from THE ONE website), a CV or resume, candidate’s passport/travel document or ID copy and a digital or print photograph of the candidate.
• All nominations must be endorsed by a local Rotary or Rotaract club where the candidate’s humanitarian work is based.
• A Rotary/Rotaract club is eligible to endorse more than one candidate.
• Nominations must include the specified ‘Humanity Service Description Form’ that highlights the following points. Answers for questions 1-5 should be limited to 2,000 words:

1. How does the candidate give totally to the cause every day?
2. Please describe the direct impact of the candidate’s work on their beneficiaries.
3. How does his/her work advocate for humanity and improve mankind?
4. How does he/she work to the highest standards?
5. What values does he/she promote through his/her humanitarian efforts and why?
6. Questions a-h.

• • Supplementary documentation or material is highly desirable. (i.e. 1-2 video clips, 10-15 photos in service and a few links to articles, financial Statement/audited financial reports in the past two years etc.) Semi-finalists and finalists are required to submit supplementary documentation.

• For written supplementary information, please limit to five pages only.
• All nomination forms that are submitted by email should be submitted in a word document format or PDF. All photo materials that are submitted online should be submitted as a JPEG or TIF of no less than 1MB.
• Electronic submissions are highly encouraged.
• THE ONE Organising Committee reserves the right to verify a candidate’s service achievements through all means including the references submitted by the candidate
• The decision of THE ONE organising committee and Rotary International District 3450 shall be final and conclusive on all matters related to the nomination.
• Should there be any discrepancy between or dispute arising from the English and any other language versions of these nomination guidelines, the English version shall apply and prevail.
• Failure to comply with the nomination guidelines can result in penalisation of the candidate.

JUDGING SYSTEM

In order to ensure a fair and rigorous judging process, the Organising Committee has established a three-tiered judging system. Judges in all three panels  comprise of volunteers who have signed confidentiality agreements.

To guarantee the authenticity of all information provided by the candidates, all applications must be endorsed by a Rotary club and signed off by the then current president of the endorsing club. The Organising Committee has also performed additional checks to verify the information provided.

• Candidates, their nominators or related persons to the candidate are not permitted to communicate directly with any of the appointed judges of the judging panels. This ban allows judges to score candidates fairly based only on the official materials presented to them.
• All candidates’ interviews will be conducted in the same format of a Skype interview regardless of the candidate’s residing location.

AWARD PRIZE RELEASE PROCEDURES

Please download “Criteria to be observed by THE ONE awardees” here. 

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