2011 Nominees For SCV Man And Woman Of The Year Announced [1]

The stars came out tonight, to reveal the names of this year’s candidates for SCV Man and Woman of the Year, at a party hosted by 2010 honoree Wayne Crawford.

Crawford and his co-honoree Mary Ann Colf are the organizers of this year’s celebration, which will be held May 6 at the Hyatt Regency Valencia. The annual event serves to recognize volunteers singled out by various nonprofit organizations for their contributions to the community.

A committee of past winners will now take up the difficult task of choosing one man and one woman to be awarded the top honor at the gala dinner. All nominees will be recognized for their contributions at the dinner, but the crowning moment will come when the main winners are announced and celebrated with a slide show.

Making their debut Wednesday as candidates for the highest honors – and the organizations that nominated them are the following individuals:

The Women –

Julie Benson – Michael Hoefflin Foundation for Children’s Cancer

Erica Betz – Santa Clarita Valley Committee on Aging

Sue Endress – Rotary of SCV

Cheryl Gray – Zonta of the SCV

Shelly Hahn – Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital Foundation

Kris Hough – Santa Clarita Facilities Foundation

Anna Ott – Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club Foundation

Mary Lina Schultz – Friends of Hart Park

Candy Spahr – American Cancer Society

Barbara Wampole – Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment

(See pictures and complete biographies of the 2011 Woman of the Year candidates here [4])

The Men –

Harry Bell – Rotary of SCV

Tom Dierkman – Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club Foundation

Rick Patterson – Santa Clarita Facilities Foundation/SCV Senior Center

Mike Quick – Carousel Ranch

Ray Schultz – Friends of Hart Park

Steve Sturgeon – Santa Clarita Valley Child and Family Center Foundation

Leon Worden – Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society

(See pictures and complete biographies of the 2011 Man of the Year candidates here [5])

The Santa Clarita Valley Man and Woman of the Year program has been in existence since 1964, and it originated with the Newhall-Saugus Chamber of Commerce.

The first Man of the Year was historian and community leader A.B. Perkins. There wasn’t a Woman of the Year until 1971, when Olive Ruby earned the title. Those honored in the years since have definitely changed the course of our community’s growth and progress.

Throughout the years, the selection criteria have remained fairly consistent. Organizations or individuals submit the names of nominees who have shown long-time community commitment. Their service is judged in terms of the number of years of volunteerism, the impact on the community, and the number of organizations involved.

The former recipients review all submittals and, following lengthy discussions and sometimes a debate or two, mark their ballots. The man and woman who receive the greatest number of votes become the honorees for the year.

To read more about the event's history and see past honorees, check out www.scvmanandwomanoftheyear.com [6].