side menu icon

Awards & Recognition

Girl Scouts – Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas appreciates our volunteers and feel they all deserve to be recognized for their contributions. Recognition can be accomplished through acts of appreciation and awards. The Volunteer Service Hour Awards submission deadline is February 15. The Adult Recognition Awards submission deadline is April 15.

Appreciation is an ongoing, daily process for all volunteers. Showing appreciation for one another is one way to show respect, to relate to each other’s strengths and to build mutual commitment for Girl Scouting. 

Awards are given for outstanding contributions that have made a significant impact on girls. You may nominate outstanding volunteers in your community. The Diamonds Council hosts an annual recognitions program to recognize council award recipients. It is held at the Girl Scouts Annual Meeting and Leadership Conference in July.

Who Should be Recognized?

  • Troop Leadership Team
  • Troop support volunteers
  • Troop family and friends
  • Service unit team members
  • Special service adults
  • Community organizations
  • Members of the council’s Board of Directors

Meet the Awards

Girl Scouts - Diamonds celebrates extraordinary volunteers with three categories of awards: National Girl Scout (GSUSA) Adult Recognition Awards, Council-specific Adult Recognition Awards and Volunteer Service Hour Awards. Read the Adult Recognition Descriptions for detailed descriptions of each award. For a brief award description, read the At a Glance: Adult Recognition Awards.

GSUSA has discontinued the Volunteer of Excellence Award. Please review the adult recognition descriptions to nominate a volunteer for an alternate award. 

Adult Recognition Descriptions

Keep track of your volunteer history and achievements with this handy Adult Volunteer Service Record. Make sure to save a copy for yourself, and give a copy to your Service Unit Recognitions Coordinator or Service Unit Director. Updates should be made annually.

Volunteer Service Hour Awards

Did you know that the President of the United States of America wants to recognize you for your volunteer hours? Girl Scouts – Diamonds wants to help you receive this recognition. The submission deadline for the Volunteer Service Hour Awards is February 15 of each year.

This award is for individuals based on the number of hours that individual has given to the organization within a calendar year (January-December). Awardees will be given a personalized certificate of achievement and letter signed by President as well as a pin of achievement for their volunteer commitment. This award is available for volunteers serving a minimum of 100 hours as well as for Girl Scouts in the teen category (11-15) serving a minimum of 50 volunteer hours and Girl Scouts in the young adult category (16-18) with a minimum of 100 volunteer hours.

Please complete the online submission form by February 15! For questions, please email recognitions@girlscoutsdiamonds.org

World Friendship Medal
How to Submit a Council Award Nomination

The Basics

Who can be a nominator: Any Girl Scout volunteer, parent, community member or staff person. The nominator can also complete one of the required endorsement questionnaires.

Who can be an endorser: Any Girl Scout volunteer, parent, community member or the nominator. Staff and family members cannot complete an endorsement questionnaire for the nominee.

Time in which service was performed: Nominators and Endorsers can recognize a nominee’s volunteer service/work through April of the current membership year. Some awards ask for details from the past and current membership year, while other awards may ask about work over the last three to five years. Please reference the award descriptions for criteria.

The Forms: All forms are in a fillable, PDF format. To ensure typed information is not lost, please follow these steps:

1) Click the form you want to complete
2) Download the form to your computer
3) Save the form to your computer and open the form from the saved location. (i.e. Desktop)
4) Complete the form
5) Re-save the form to your computer. You may receive a message to replace the existing document with the same name. Click “yes” to replace the existing document with the one you just completed.

The Steps

1. Review the award descriptions and criteria to determine the appropriate award for the individual.

2. Read and complete the appropriate nomination form. The Volunteer Experience Department will answer any questions.

3. Read and complete the appropriate endorsement questionnaire. Each endorser should read the endorsement questionnaire carefully and give clear examples of how the nominee fulfills the criteria. Descriptions of each award are located in the Recognition & Awards section of the Girl Scouts – Diamonds website. The nominator may also complete one of the required endorsement questionnaires.

4. The nominator is responsible for collecting and reviewing all information to ensure that the nomination form and the required number of endorsement questionnaires document how the nominee meets the award criteria.  Make sure the packet is complete. It is the sole responsibility of the person completing the nomination form to make sure all documentation is included in the nomination packet.

5. Submit the complete nomination packet to recognitions@girlscoutsdiamonds.org by the April 15 deadline. The complete nomination packet must be received no later than April 15 of each membership year. Online submissions will be accepted until 11:59 pm on April 15. 

GSUSA and Council awards are presented at the Diamonds Awards, usually in late July. This includes Numeral Guards and Volunteer Years of Service pins. The date and registration information will be announced on the Girl Scouts – Diamonds website and publications in the months leading up to the event. 

Adult Recognition Cover Sheet and Nomination Form
Adult Recognition Endorsement Questionnaire
Numeral Guard & Volunteer Years of Service Submission Form

Adult Recognition Review Committee

Adult Recognition Review Committee

The purpose of the Adult Recognition Review Committee is to review and approve nominations for National and Council Adult Recognition Awards. Review of the nomination packets is based on the award criteria and the information provided in the packet, not on personality or identity.

After review of the nomination, the committee members score each packet’s endorsement questionnaires based on the provided scoring rubric. The average of scores for each nomination packet will determine if the award nomination is approved, changed to a different award category by committee or not approved for an award at this time.

Each packet is scored individually. An average is taken to determine the highest scoring nominee, which will determine the recipient of adult recognition awards that only have one recipient.

The Adult Recognition Review Committee is comprised of several appointed volunteers, typically one volunteer from each six regions of the state, who will work in conjunction with the Volunteer Experience Department.

Adult Recognition Appeals Process

Adult Recognition Appeals Process

If the Adult Recognition Review Committee determines that a nomination does not meet the criteria for an award, they may decide to:

Approve the nomination for a different award
If the candidate’s service is deemed to exceed the criteria for the nominated award, a more appropriate award may be approved.  Alternatively, if the candidate has been nominated for the Honor Pin, but no indication is given that the candidate served two or more geographic areas, then they might be approved for the Appreciation Pin.

Deny the nomination
When there is no indication given that the candidate’s service met the award criteria, i.e. no information was provided which showed that the service was truly exemplary and exceeded the expectations for the position held, the nomination may be denied. 

If a nomination is not approved, the nominator will be notified within one week of the Committee’s scoring deadline.  At this time, information will be shared as to what is needed to make a stronger nomination should the nominator decide to appeal the decision.  Nominators may follow the appeals process if they feel the nomination was not supported appropriately or the award category was changed in error.

Nominations may be revised and re‐submitted to the Volunteer Experience Department within five days of notification of the decision by the Adult Recognition Review Committee.

Based on the information in the revised nomination and discussion with the Adult Recognition Review Committee, the Volunteer Experience Department staff will follow up with the Nominator regarding the final decision.