How UCT’s safety poster contest and other programs & contests will be affected by COVID-19 and the cancellation of the UCT convention

COVID-19, along with the cancellation of the 2020 UCT convention, is forcing us all to make adjustments to the ways we conduct our UCT business. It’s a new normal that, hopefully, won’t last for too long. The UCT home office is working on adjusting deadlines and requirements to accommodate for cancellations and shutdowns that are taking place during this time. Many of you put your hearts and souls into participating in our programs and contests, and we appreciate that. We want to make your continued participation as simple as possible, so please take a moment to review the tweaks being made to the following:

UCT Safety Poster Contest
Due to the cancellation of the annual convention, the UCT Safety Poster Contest will unfortunately be suspended on the international level for 2019-2020. Since some regional conventions have been cancelled, we feel it wouldn’t be fair to judge some posters and not others. Local and regional councils that are able to judge posters and award prizes on their levels safely should certainly do so. We look forward to seeing this contest resume as usual on the international level in 2020-2021.

Medal of Honor Program
Whether you’re mailing a physical book or submitting an electronic version of it, the deadline date for submitting Medal of Honor activities has been extended to June 1 rather than May 1.

We’re aware that many councils participating in the program are going to be short on at least one or two meetings and possibly late on submitting officer reports. There might be councils that had to cancel planned activities as well. Rest assured this isn’t a problem. Just include a note with your Medal of Honor book letting the home office know what meetings/planned activities were affected by the crisis and when you think you will elect your officers, and we’ll work with you to make sure you reach the program level you deserve.

Volunteer of the Year/Lifetime Achievement Awards
These two awards will also be suspended for 2020 due to the cancellation of the annual UCT convention. These are two of the highest honors UCT bestows on members for service to their councils and their communities. They are presented at the annual convention because the members being recognized deserve the pomp and circumstance of a special presentation. We regret that we won’t be able to do that this year, and we don’t want to cheat deserving members of special recognition. The awards will be resumed in 2021.

Local/Regional Newsletter Contests
Good news! We’re still conducting the contests and offering financial prizes at the international level. We want to still encourage councils to stay active and keep their members informed. so take a look at your 2019-2020 newsletters, and choose the one you believe to be the best and email it to lfisher@uct.org or mail it to the home office by no later than MAY 1.

Join Hands Day
While the “official” Join Hands Day is the first Saturday in May, UCT local councils can hold their projects at any time during the year. We’re leaving this project to the discretion of local councils as to whether or not they wish to hold some kind of joint community service event after this crisis ends.

Details of these programs and contests can be found on the Members’ Area of our website at www.uct.org.

Thanks to all of you for your patience and understanding. As always, you’re the best! These are uncertain times, but I’m confident that we will get through it together. Stay safe everyone!