One of the events that The Daily News takes pride in sponsoring is the annual “Citizen of the Year” contest for both Bogalusa (East Washington Parish) and Franklinton (West Washington Parish). Each year, we join the rest of the community in celebrating some of our citizens who have gone above and beyond to give back to their friends and neighbors. It is a great event and we are happy to do our part.

We are currently in the nominations process for the Bogalusa Citizen of the Year, which will be announced sometime in either late spring or early summer. For most of our editions in April, we have published a ballot that any person can fill out to nominate a local citizen for the honor. In this issue, the ballot is published on Page 9A.

The deadline to turn in nominations is 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 26, and we need your help. We know that there are many men and women in Washington Parish who are deserving of the honor of being “Citizen of the Year,” but unless someone nominates them, they won’t be included in the vote. Don’t just assume that a friend or neighbor will nominate the person — be absolutely certain by making sure you fill out the ballot yourself!

Past Citizens of the Year are the only ones who actually vote on the honor, but anyone can nominate a person. All it takes is a little time to fill out the ballot. If you need more space, you are welcome to add more pages to describe why the nominee is worthy of being Citizen of the Year, but you should still include the original ballot.

Thanks for helping to make this event a success!