The Sacred Heart Major Seminary Alumni Board recently voted to add two new awards to the current list of Alumni Day honorees. Although no more than four awards will be given out at the dinner in any given year, beginning in 2010, Clergy, Senior Clergy, Lay, and Former Faculty honors will be joined by Permanent Deacon and Lay Ministry possibilities.

When award recognition started in 1977, all seminary alumni had attended Sacred Heart Seminary as priesthood candidates. In 1988, when the seminary's charter changed (and Sacred Heart Seminary became Sacred Heart Major Seminary), training programs for other vocational calls, notably the permanent diaconate and the lay ministry, were added. Over the years, there have been alumni awardees from both of these programs. Deacon winners, however, have sometimes been given the Lay Alumnus award and sometimes the Clergy Alumnus award. The current Lay award has sometimes been given to men who started on the priesthood path as well as lay people who came to the seminary specifically to study for the lay ministry. With the initiation of the new awards, the Board is seeking to provide honors for distinguished alumni and alumnae based upon vocational call.

2010 nominations for any of the six possible awards are currently being actively sought. The deadline for submittal is November 13, 2009. Here are the criteria:

• Nominees must be living individuals
• Nominees should not be told that they have been nominated. Successful nominees will be informed by the Alumni Director and will be expected to personally attend the award ceremony
• The nomination form must be completed, since members of the Alumni Board come from different eras and may not know each nominee's qualifications
• Ineligible for any of the awards are former award winners, current and former rectors, current faculty members, and current Alumni Board members