Distinguished Service Award Nominations Now Open for 2026
Nominations for TVPPA’s highest honor, the Richard C. Crawford Distinguished Service Award, are now open.
This award honors a general manager or CEO who has demonstrated exceptional leadership and an extraordinary commitment to serving TVPPA and its member systems.
It is named in recognition of former TVPPA President and CEO Richard C. Crawford, who led TVPPA from 2001 to 2004. The award remains one of the most prestigious honors that the Tennessee Valley’s public power community can bestow upon one of their colleagues. Recent honorees include Gallatin Department of Electricity's Mark Kimbell; Chattanooga EPB’s David Wade; Huntsville Utilities’ Wes Kelley; and Rodney Boyd of McMinnville Electric System.
Who Will You Nominate?
The 2026 award will be presented at the Annual Conference on May 19. We invite you to carefully consider the many outstanding managers across the Valley who exemplify the qualities listed below and download the 2026 DSA Nomination form. Once the form is complete, please submit it to your district chair.
As you consider your nominations, please keep the following award criteria in mind:
- Exceptional leadership and service contributions to TVPPA and to consumer-owned power locally and in the Tennessee Valley region;
- Unusual devotion to duty;
- Recognition by the nominee’s peers;
- Contribution to the betterment of the community and the Tennessee Valley
Observing the following guidelines will help streamline the nomination process:
- While any member system may submit a nomination, we encourage nominations to be coordinated through district associations;
- Districts may nominate candidates from outside their own district;
- Judging is based solely on the information provided in the nomination form, so please be as detailed and comprehensive as possible;
- Special emphasis should be placed on the nominee’s contributions to TVPPA.
If you have a nominee in mind, please submit the nomination form linked above to your district chair. District chairs must submit final nominations to TVPPA EVP & Chief Strategy Officer Danette Scudder by March 25, 2026.