UPJ Awards Nomination Form for Vatik

THE VATIK AWARD

The online nomination form is at the bottom of this page. 
Nominations for Ner Atid Awards for 2026 are open. Deadline is August 26, 2026.

The Vatik Award was created at the Annual Conference of the Union for Progressive Judaism held in November 2002.

This award was created solely for past presidents of congregations, and affiliate organisations who have continued to give excellent service and make a valuable contribution to their community and the wider community.  We want to recognise these worthy individuals through their continued commitment to the community and their furthering the Progressive Jewish ethos in our region.

If you have such a worthy candidate, please submit a nomination outlining the detailed reasons for giving such an award to a past president.  Once completed, you can forward it to the UPJ office and where it will be assessed by the 2026 Awards Committee, which is comprised of three regional representatives selected by the President of the UPJ.  All nominations are confidential, and submissions should not be discussed with the nominees.

The criteria are as follows:

• The nominee must have shown continued service to his/her community (or any other in the Union) for at least five years after standing down as president.
• They must not be a paid employee of that congregation / organisation.
• They are eligible after receiving a Ner Tamid award after fulfilling the other requirements.
• They must have shown outstanding commitment to Judaism outside of their own congregation/affiliate organisation.

The above criteria will be used by the committee in assessing nominations. All applications must be typed on this form. No hand-written nominations.

It is the responsibility of the nominator to provide sufficient detail to judge the application in a clear and concise manner.