Nominations open for Canadian Race Relations Foundation's (CRRF) 2010 Award
of Excellence (AoE)

TORONTO , Nov. 16 /CNW/ - The Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF) is accepting nominations for its Award of Excellence (AoE) from public, private and non-governmental organizations, agencies and individuals who have demonstrated excellence and innovation in combating racism and discrimination. This AoE has six categories: Aboriginal, Education, Community, Corporate, Government/Public Sector and Youth. Submissions for all categories are to be received no later than December 15, 2009 .

The Award of Excellence program was created to recognize best practices in antiracism by institutions and individuals and is presented every two years. Adjudicated by an independent group of well-respected antiracism and human rights activists, the 2009 presentation will be made at the CRRF conference "Is there a New Paradigm for Understanding, Unlearning & Addressing Bias in Society" in Montreal , Quebec , May 17-19, 2010. Past winners include Carrefour BLE ( Quebec ), Darren Lund (University of Calgary ), AMSSA ( Vancouver ), Canadian Pacific, and Media Awareness Network.

"The Award of Excellence symbolizes national recognition of commitment and success in combating racism," said Dr. Ayman Al-Yassini, the CRRF's Executive Director. "Over the years, Canadian institutions - federal and provincial, government, NGO, private sector, and individuals - have communicated the message that racism is not acceptable in our society. The AoE provides the opportunity to share the best practices of those who demonstrated leadership in eliminating racism and racial discrimination."

Details on submissions and nominations, including application forms, are available at www.crrf-fcrr.ca.

For further information: English: Aren Sarikyan, Project Associate, [phone]; French: Dominique Etienne, Media Relations, [phone]