The Caperton Award for Excellence

The Caperton Award was named for West Virginia’s 31^st governor, Gaston Caperton. Former governor Caperton was supportive of the Wellness Council of WV during its formative years—jogging from the Governor’s Mansion to attend the first Governor’s Conference on Worksite Wellness at the Charleston Marriott.  His example of healthy lifestyle choices is an inspiration to the people of West Virginia.

Who can win? The Caperton Award recognizes individuals including Chief Executive Officers, Chief Financial Officers, Operations Managers and senior managers with “decision-making” power over wellness programming and budget allocations who are part of member organizations of the Wellness Council of West Virginia.

Who can nominate someone for the award? Anyone can nominate someone for The Caperton Award.  Self-nominations are also accepted.

What are the criteria to qualify for The Caperton Award?

The Caperton Award recognizes senior managers who:

• Communicate the message of wellness to employees through written documents (letters to employees, memos, etc.), verbal announcements (meetings, focus groups, end of year reports), etc.

• Allocate adequate funding for wellness initiatives

• Participate regularly in worksite wellness programs
  

• Tie wellness initiatives to business outcomes

If you know a senior manager who deserves the The Caperton Award, please nominate him or her!  Nominations are accepted online January 1st through August 30th of each year.  Finalists are announced the first week of August of the same year.  The winner will be announced at the Wellness Council of West Virginia’s annual Governor’s Conference on Worksite Wellness in October. The online nomination form will be available January 1.

Important Note: 

When writing the 300-word submission please address specifically:

• Communication
  • How does the nominee encourage employee participation in the wellness program?
  • How does the nominee encourage senior staff support of the wellness program?
• Allocation
  • Is there a secured budget for the wellness program?  If so, what sorts of things are included?  (Please remember the re-allocation of existing resources such as staff time for meetings and programs, office supplies used for wellness programming, prevention benefits in health plan, etc.)
  • How do the company goals/strategies include wellness goals/strategies?
  • How is wellness/prevention built into compensation packages?
• Participation
  • How often/frequently and to what degree does the nominee participate in wellness initiatives? 

Miscellaneous

Has this program/initiative or the nominee received other recognition such as:

• Recognition from corporate headquarters or industry association or work in health/wellness A national award (such as Well Workplace Award, N.E.W.W. Award, Koop Award, etc.

• Nominee has received outside recognition for work in wellness/health