Awards
The Suncoast Tiger Bay Club has a long history of honoring public officials and private citizens who go above and beyond the call of civic duty. See the details of our infamous awards below.
The Benjamin Franklin Award
Purpose
To stimulate, encourage and recognize exemplary public leadership by selecting those persons who, through public appointed or elected service, have exhibited extraordinary integrity, courage and achievement. (This is not an award for volunteer service outside the political arena.)
Eligibility
An award to be presented to an elected official or appointed public figure, past or present, anywhere in Florida, including partisan and non-partisan officials. Applicants may also include other individuals such as writers, academics and leaders of political organizations, who have consistently and profoundly influenced public policy in Florida.
Previous Ben Franklin Award winners, and current members of the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club Board of Directors are not eligible.
Susan B. Anthony Grassroots Award
Purpose
This is an occasional award in that it is not necessarily an annual award. The purpose of the award is to honor someone whose grassroots efforts have made a singular contribution to public policy, either by way of having had a beneficial effect on a public issue(s) or by contributing to a broader understanding of public affairs.
Eligibility
The person so honored cannot be an elected or appointed office holder or a paid lobbyist, or a member of the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club Board of Directors. Also it should be noted that the nominee will only receive consideration if said contribution was totally unrelated to their business or occupation.
Past Award Recipients
- 1990 – Pat Ellis
- 1994 – Linda Anello
- 1996 – Alice Tackett Balena
- 1997 – Wendy Sue Nelson
- 1998 – Bill Poe
- 1999 – David Levitt
- 2001 – Candice Slaughter Warmke
- 2004 – George Locascio
- 2005 – Emily Rogers Coeyman
- 2008 – Eileen Hart
- 2015 – Dr. Yvonne Scruggs – Leftwich
Thomas Paine Common Sense Award
Purpose
To stimulate, encourage, and recognize lengthy and exemplary public service by selecting those persons who have exhibited extraordinary integrity, courage and achievement.
This is an occasional award and not necessarily an annual award.
Eligibility
Any individual, anywhere in Florida who is not a current member of the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club Board of Directors. While a nominee may have served as a public elected or appointed official, their main contribution should not be through this service.
Past Award Recipients
- 2013 – Lucy Morgan
- 2014 – Ray Arsenault
- 2014 – Gary Mormino
- 2015 – Dr. Darryl Paulson