Awards

This award is designed to recognize the Junior Achievement USA Area President who best represents Junior Achievement USA professionalism. Basic criteria for the award are:

• JA Area President must have completed seven years of service in JA by the end of the fiscal year being judged.
• JA Area President must have served a minimum of five years as a President in current JA Area.
• JA Area that the President has led for the past fiscal year must have earned a JA USA 4 or 5 Star Award.
• JA Area Presidents are eligible to receive the Hook Award more than once in the same JA Area. However, there will be a five year period prior to their next year of eligibility.

An awards committee will assemble prior to the National Leadership Conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado to determine the recipient of this year's Charles R. Hook Award.

Charles R. Hook

The founders of Junior Achievement are the only group that has contributed more to JA's growth and development than Charles R. Hook.

Hook was introduced to Junior Achievement when, as a president of the U.S. National Association of Manufacturers, he spoke to Achievers in New York in 1938. This led him to host a breakfast meeting of 750 top business people at the Waldorf-Astoria in December of 1941, which launched the original JA Company Program on a national scale in the U.S.A.

Beginning as an office boy in a small steel mill plant in 1898, Hook moved rapidly through the ranks, becoming president of Armco Steel of Middletown, Ohio, in 1930. He was elected chairman of the board of directors of Armco in 1948.

During his long association with Junior Achievement, Hook was personally responsible for the establishment of many new JA Areas. It was his vision and foresight that led the organization to become an international force for free enterprises.

For more than a quarter-century, Hook served on the U.S. Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of Junior Achievement Inc. He also provided leadership to the organization as U.S. national board chair for many years.

The Charles R. Hook Award was established to recognize a JA Area President whose outstanding performance contributed to the growth and development of the organization.

The Charles R. Hook Award, and engraved sterling silver bowl, is presented annually at the Junior Achievement USA National Leadership conference.

The Flemke Achievement Award is named in honor of Karl Flemke, who served as the national president and CEO of JA from 1982 until his death in 1994. This award recognizes significant achievements and contributions of a first time area president with no less than two and no more than four years of service in his or her current position. Additionally, candidates must pre-certify for the Star Award.

This award was developed and is presented by the JA Staff Alumni Network and consists of a crystal triangle and $1,000. The recipient is selected by a group comprised of JA Area presidents, JA USA staff, and members of the JA Staff Alumni Network.

Purpose

In Junior Achievement the way we conduct our business is just as important as achieving our operational goals. The JA MVP – Model of Values Professional Award was established to reinforce the importance of living our values. JA associates must exemplify values and behaviors that provide the model for the students we serve and assure JA a place as a business to be respected in every community where JA has a presence. The recipients of this award will serve as role models and examples of the best of Junior Achievement citizens, partners and colleagues.

Criteria

Recipients of the JA MVP Award will consistently demonstrate the following JA Values Based Behaviors which are the basis of the criteria for nominations.

• Passion for the Mission
• Values and Respects Others
• Honesty and Integrity
• Commitment to Excellence
• Team Orientation and Collaboration
• Customer Satisfaction and Delight
• Adaptability
• Results Orientation