Fall is upon us again, that magical time of year when a blogger’s thoughts turn toward the Al Copeland Humanitarian of the Year Award! Nominations have been opened for this year’s award. Keep your eyes on Jay’s blog, because I’ve been saving up ideas for people to nominate all year. I’ve only nominated an Al winner once, but this year I have such a great lineup of ideas, I feel like I might be able to go over the top again!

In keeping with the noble ideals that were established with its original institution, The Al honors people who improve the human condition. It tends to focus on people who wouldn’t normally get recognized with awards for their humanitarianism, because they happened to make a profit from their good deeds or are looked down upon by the professional do-gooder class for some other extraneous reason.

Last year’s winner was George P. Mitchell, who commercialized hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). He demolished American carbon emissions – we are now hitting the Kyoto treaty targets even though we didn’t sign the treaty – while also expanding energy reserves available to all, lowering the price of energy, and (for good measure) reducing the international power of the oil dictators, tilting the balance of geopolitics in the good guys’ direction.

Submit your nominations to Jay by leaving a comment on his blog or sending him an email. Who will win this year? Stay tuned to Jay’s blog to find out!