With election season at long last winding down (we hope!), it’s time to turn our attention to less contentious matters and cast the spotlight on the friends, neighbors, teachers, community leaders and public servants who make the North Fork such a special place to work and live. Every year we use this space to ask readers of The Suffolk Times to nominate candidates for our annual People of the Year awards. With their heartfelt nominations, our readers have always played perhaps the most important role in the selection process. Last year, you helped us choose from a wide array of worthy recipients, including elected officials, educators and volunteers who ensure our community remains strong. The honorees’ stories of service, dedication and perseverance are always inspirational.

We pride ourselves on recognizing residents from diverse fields and all walks of life. We want to hear about your friends and neighbors, the teacher who went above and beyond to help you become a better student, the business owner who never stops giving back to the community.

The East End is stocked with residents who work tirelessly to make our communities special. We always have a growing list of nominees who are more than qualified to earn this paper’s highest accolades. That list can never be too long.

On Jan. 2, 2025 — our first edition of the New Year — we’ll announce this year’s honorees in the following categories: educator, businessperson, public servant, community leader, sports person and overall person of the year. In addition, we’ll honor someone working in the local food, wine, hospitality, entertainment or agricultural industries with our Northforker of the Year designation.

We realize there are so many people doing big things in this community who don’t seek the spotlight. As a result, the work they do and the gifts they bring often go unnoticed — and rarely make the “news.”

And that’s precisely the type of nominees we are asking our readers to share with us, and that’s why we remind ourselves often of American author and anthropologist Margaret Mead’s advice on making a positive difference: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Do you know such a person? Let us know. Nominations should be emailed to [email protected] using “people of the year” in the subject line. Please include a brief description of the nominee and the category you feel they are best suited to represent — and please be sure to give us your contact info so we can follow up.

All correspondence will be kept confidential, so the person nominated doesn’t even have to know you are singling them out. More importantly, the award-winners themselves also won’t know they’ve been honored until the winners are announced on Jan. 2. We ask that all nominations be submitted no later than Thursday, Dec. 5.

Thanks, as always, for your continued support.