Upstate Diversity Leadership Awards

The Riley Institute partners annually with the Greenville Chamber and other chambers of commerce in the Upstate to celebrate outstanding contributions in diversity. Winners of the awards, both individuals and organizations, are role models in promotion diversity, receiving awards in the following categories:

• Calder D. Ehrmann Outstanding Individual
• William “Bill” T. Wylie VALUED Lives Award for School Excellence (K-12 School)
• Outstanding High School Student
• Outstanding College Student
• Outstanding Nonprofit Organization
• Outstanding Business

Nominations now open for the 2021 Upstate Diversity Leadership Awards

Nominations are now open for the seventeenth annual Upstate Diversity Leadership Awards Celebration, which will be held in conjunction with the Greenville Chamber’s fifth annual Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Summit on October 20. Awards are presented in the following six categories: Individual, High School Student, College Student, Business, Nonprofit, and K-12 school.

Criteria for nominations:

• Nominees (individuals, organizations, and businesses) should be role models in the Upstate for promoting an inclusive work or community environment and/or for championing diversity as an important individual or organizational mission.
• Nominees must be a current resident, organization, or business in the Upstate. The Riley Institute, the Greenville Chamber, the Spartanburg Chamber, and the Anderson Chamber and their staff are not eligible for nomination.

Nominate a diversity champion

Register for the DEI Summit

View past winners

Nominations will close on Friday, August 6, 2021 at 5 p.m.

If you prefer to submit your nomination via mail, please email megan.dodgens@furman.edu to request a printable form.

About the Upstate Diversity Leadership Awards

The annual Upstate Diversity Leadership Awards originated as a community action project in the Diversity Leaders Initiative 2004 Upstate class. The community action project team, “Inclusion Infusion,” suggested an annual event that would recognize organizations and individuals for their accomplishments in improving diversity and inclusion in the Upstate. The idea was adopted by the Riley Institute and the Anderson, Greenville, and Spartanburg Chambers of Commerce, all of which have had representatives complete the Riley Institute’s Diversity Leaders Initiative program.