About The Gold Award

Since being established in 2011, the Gold Award has been presented annually at the Ontario Welsh Festival.  In 2025, we will celebrate the winner at the Gold Award Banquet on Saturday, April 26, 2025.

Nominations for the 2025 Gold Award must be submitted before November 1, 2024. To nominate a candidate, visit the How to Nominate page.

About the Gold Award

The Gold Award honours a person who has made a significant contribution to Welsh life in Ontario. It was established to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Ontario Gymanfa Ganu Association’s annual festival. The Gold Award is co-sponsored by institutions that aim to preserve and promote Welsh culture and history in Ontario. Currently these are The Ontario Gymanfa Ganu Association; The St. David’s Society of Toronto; The Ottawa Welsh Society; and Addoldy Cymraeg Toronto (formerly Dewi Sant Welsh United Church).

Gold Award Selection Committee

The Gold Award Selection Committee will be responsible for the selection of the recipient. The Chair of the committee is responsible for coordinating the Gold Award nomination and selection process. He/she will not participate in the selection process, except for in the event of a tie, when the Chair will cast the final vote.

Membership
  • Chair
  • Representatives – 1 appointed member from each of the recognized Welsh Institutions.
  • Most recent available recipient of the Gold Award.
Terms of Chair and Committee
  • Chair – 2 years, renewable as determined by OGGA board. The Administrator can resign his/her position with 30 days’ notice to the President of the OGGA.
  • Representatives – One year, renewable as determined by the respective institutions.
Nominations
  • Nominations for the award are sought from the Ontario Welsh community annually.
  • The GOLD Award Committee Members will coordinate advertising to the various Welsh communities through emails, newspaper articles and social media postings.
  • The local representatives will encourage nominations from their respective group members.
  • Nominations can be submitted at any time after the Ontario Welsh Festival up to November 1st to be considered for the following year.
  • Nominations must be submitted to the Chair either electronically or by mail.
  • Upon receipt of a nomination the Chair will advise the local representative who will provide the nominator with a nomination form to complete (see attached).
  • The Chair will date and record the nominations, confirm acceptance of the nomination by the nominees, and request a summary of their contributions.
  • Accepted nominations will be considered in the selection process for a period of 3 years. Nominations of award recipients however will be removed once selected.
  • After three years a new nomination is required for a person to be considered.
  • Posthumous nominations will not be considered, unless the individual passes after November 1st application deadline. In this case the nomination will be considered for one year only.
  • Members of the Gold Award Selection Committee are exempted from being nominated.
Gold Award Selection Process
  • After the November 1st deadline, the Chair will distribute the accepted nominations and accompanying information for review to the voting members of the selection committee.
  • After reviewing all applications, the selection committee will shortlist up to 3 candidates.
  • Each member of the committee will then independently vote by ranking the shortlisted candidates using the following points system: 5- first choice, 3 –second choice, 1 – third choice.
  • In the event of a tie, the Chair will cast the final vote.
  • Final decision will be made by January.
  • The decision of the judges is final.
  • The Chair will notify the OGGA board of the committee’s decision.
  • The President of the OGGA will notify the recipient.
Announcement of Winner and Presentation of the Award
  • The Chair will request additional biographical information from the recipient and his/her colleagues, which will be used for: the Ontario Welsh Festival website, an article in NINNAU, a short bio for the Ontario Welsh Festival (OWF) programme booklet and for the Gold Award ceremony itself.
  • The Chair will ask most recent available recipient of the Gold Award to make the presentation at the upcoming OWF.

A list of past winners can be found at: Gold Award Winners.

To nominate a candidate, visit the How to Nominate page.