[Amanda Aldridge]

Andy Baker once posted on these forums that "FIRST is not about robots or which roller coaster we get to ride... it is about people."

Indeed, it is the people who make FIRST the great organization that it has come to be. Each and every person helps just by being involved. There are a great many people, however, who go well beyond the call of duty voluntarily for FIRST. Some of them get credit for the things they do. Too many of them don’t.

At the 2003 IRI, I witnessed firsthand the incredible amounts of work that were put in by people who don’t get a lot of credit. Combined with the things I witnessed and discovered while creating my team’s Chairman’s Award submission for the IRI, contributed to the idea that has finally come to be today.

In FIRST, many things get accomplished in a whirlwind. I’ve witnessed it before, but never actually been a part of it. When I mentioned my idea to Amanda Morrison and Josh Hambright (oneangrydwarf), they encouraged me to take it to Brandon Martus. In what seemed like an instant, so many wheels were in motion it made my head spin!

From one fledgling idea 'Unsung FIRST Heroes' was born.

Thank you to all the people who helped this idea become a reality. Congratulations to JVN, our first honoree, and good luck to all those who will be nominated in the coming days.