Bennett Awards Is ALL IN To Help Inspire Young Voters
As the United States wraps up another presidential election, Bennett Awards celebrates our collaboration with an organization that has been encouraging young voters to participate in the democratic processes since 2015 and whose efforts have hopefully inspired some of the young people who contributed their voice (and vote) in this year’s election. This organization is the nonprofit Civic Nation, and specifically we have been working with their non-partisan initiative, the All In Campus Democracy Challenge, or ALL IN, by creating and providing their custom awards for the past four years. Since 2017, these artistic awards from the Bennett Awards design studio have been presented at the ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony in order to both honor the individuals carrying out their mission in a significant way, and to continue motivating further participation in the future.
Indeed, the unique awards that Bennett Awards has created for ALL IN are more than just a beautiful object for contemplation or commemorating a milestone reached, and instead act as a crucial part of their organizational strategy. In 2019, ALL IN partnered with Higher Ed Insight to outline their “Theory of Change” for advancing cultures of democratic engagement for young adults in college and university, and one of the three key pillars of their approach is recognition, including awards and accolades. This theory suggests that, along with the structure and support they provide campuses, the awards and accolades they initiate can help result in “higher education playing a significant role in fostering more engaged and inclusive democracy in the U.S.”
Research increasingly suggests that awards can have this kind of motivating power, and it is no surprise to us that this motivation can become even more empowered by groups of young people who are creating subcultures of shared values and support on school campuses where belonging is incredibly valuable. Karen McCrea, Bennett Awards’ Project Manager for this account, reflected on her appreciation for this organization, saying, “Being in college myself, I would have maybe appreciated a group you could join and feel excited to take action with.” Karen also applauded the mission of ALL IN, sharing, “I love doing awards for organizations like this, it’s very satisfying for me.”
The actual design went through a few different iterations in the time we have been working with ALL IN, and was initially created as a colorful acrylic prism incorporating the inspiring colors of our flag that obviously speak to the engagement with our nation’s governmental systems. When ALL IN’s budget changed in recent years, we were happy to try and reimagine a similar version, coming up with a smaller two-dimensional design that has screen-printed colors on acrylic, and forgoes a base. This more budget-friendly design is still effective, containing the meaningful elements like the ALL IN logo and the symbolic, eye-catching colors, and allowing these custom awards to still feel personalized even in a simpler form.
At the biennial ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony, individuals from participating campuses, including students and educators, are awarded for their outstanding contributions and exemplary leadership in improving student democratic engagement. Since their launch in 2016, ALL IN has grown to support more than 1,000 colleges and universities, and engage with more than 10 million students from across the country. ALL In is also one of the organizations participating in Bennett Awards Common Good Partnership Program. This means they receive a discount for their awards, and in return have put a link and shout-out for Bennett Awards on their site. At Bennett, we are excited to have created awards that recognize individuals who are encouraging students to form the habits of informed and active citizenship, because we believe in the importance of young people helping to create the future they want.