So often, the unsung heroes of military life are the kids. They're affectionately called brats, but these kids are generally anything but. They move, they say goodbye to their parents for months on end and they take on additional responsibilities at home without being asked.
Military children as a whole are unbelievable. And now you can recognize them by nominating the impressive military kiddo in your life for Operation Homefront's 2020 Military Child of the Year Award.
"The annual awards will recognize seven outstanding young people ages 13 to 18," Operation Homefront explained on its website. "Six of them will represent a branch of the armed forces -- the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and National Guard -- for their scholarship, volunteerism, leadership, extracurricular involvement, and other criteria while facing the challenges of military family life. The seventh award is the Military Child of the Year Award for Innovation presented by Booz Allen Hamilton. This award goes to a military child who has designed a bold and creative solution to address a local, regional or global challenge."
The seven award recipients will be flown to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian in order to be recognized at the annual gala in April 2020. Senior leaders of each branch will present the awards, which include $10,000 each, a laptop and other donated gifts. The recipient of the Innovation award will have the opportunity to work with a team of Booz Allen employees to develop a plan to scale their project.
Previous winners have strong backgrounds in volunteerism, community outreach and both scholastic and academic achievements. According to Operation Homefront, last year's seven recipients have had a change of station a combined 31 times, have lived through 187 months of deployments and collectively, the seven recipients logged 1,744 volunteer hours in the 12 months before nominations.
Nominations are open through 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 9, 2019. To nominate a child or learn more about the awards, click here.
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