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Nominations for the 2025 Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards are now being accepted. These awards celebrate the efforts of top volunteers who strive to improve their communities through service.

“Service to others through volunteer work is a hallmark of good citizenship,” said Lamar Wilkie, the program’s coordinator for Coffee County. “It takes our focus away from self and opens doors of opportunity that we never knew existed.”

Only one adult volunteer age 26 and up, and one youth volunteer age 25 or younger, may receive this prestigious annual award in each county. Nominees will be judged based on the community’s need of the volunteer service performed; initiative taken to perform the service; creativity used to solve a community problem; and the impact of the volunteer service to the community over the past year.

An online nomination form is available at http://www.glwilkie.com/gvsa although paper forms are available at the Coffee County Mayor’s Office.

All nominations must be received no later than midnight, Oct. 31.

Selection Committee members will independently review all nominations and score them according to the above state-established criteria. Award recipients will be announced in mid-December and honored at the Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards ceremony in Franklin on March 8, 2026.

For more information about nominations, contact Coffee County Coordinator Lamar Wilkie at (931) 952-3736 or gvsa@glwilkie.com.

The Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards is coordinated at the state level by Volunteer Tennessee: a 25-member bipartisan citizen board, appointed by Governor Lee, to oversee AmeriCorps and service-learning programs; and to advance volunteerism and citizen service to solve community problems in the Volunteer State. For more information about Volunteer Tennessee and the Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards, visit the website here.