The Community Cooperation Award (CCA), originally made possible by an anonymous donor, will in 2008 be funded by the Atheist Alliance International and the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard, and will increase to a first prize of $600 and a runner-up prize of $300.

The object of the CCA is to encourage cooperation, ethical awareness and positive images of and within the Freethought community and also to foster cooperation between atheist/freethought organizations and their larger home communities. Cooperation, ethics, and positive image are the elements that will be considered by the CCA committee during review of the applications. Consideration will be given to the size of the applicant organization relative to its achievements. It is our goal to encourage organizations to employ ethical means to solve problems, controversies or disagreements they may encounter, either within the organization itself or the community at large. Finally, the organization should project a positive image of atheists and freethinkers as individuals and as a community.

Applicant groups must be non-profit, non-political, atheist/freethought organizations listed in the current edition of the Freethought Directory published by AAI. The applicant organization need not be an AAI member group. The award money may be used for any purpose. To qualify for the CCA, applicant groups must submit a completed entry form, in English, listing examples of positive action since August 1, 2007, signed by three group representatives, indicating their group association (president, vice president, etc.).

The winners selected by the CCA Committee may be asked to substantiate their applications with documentation in the form of:

• Media coverage of community volunteer work
• Evidence of cooperation with civic or religious leaders in the community
• Listing with local United Way or other philanthropic organizations
• Tapes or transcripts from meetings/events
• Relevant articles from the organization's newsletter

Entry form is available on line, and completed entry forms may be emailed to and by August 31, 2008

The AAI CCA Committee will choose the winners. The decision will be final, and the right will be reserved to withdraw the award after it is announced, but before it is paid, if there is substantial evidence of undesirable behavior on the part of the proposed recipients. A runner-up may also be chosen in case the winner is deemed no longer worthy. The winners will be announced at the 2008 AAI convention, September 25-28 in Long Beach, California.

CCA Committee: Carol Smith, Chair, Stuart Bechman, Bobbie Kirkhart

• CCA 2008 Announcement
• CCA 2008 Application

For more information contact:
Stuart Bechman
Atheist Alliance International President
1777 T Street NW
Washington, DC 20009-1725
Email:

ATHEIST ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL
The Democratic Alliance of Autonomous Atheistic Societies
Website: www.atheistalliance.org

Atheist Alliance International (AAI), founded in 1991, is an umbrella organization for local, autonomous, religion-free groups as well as individual members.

It has 54 member societies in the United States and 10 in other countries. AAI is the only fully democratic atheist organization in the United States.

Its purposes are to help establish and strengthen the religion-free community at the grassroots level and to achieve visibility and acceptance for atheists as respected contributors to discussions of public policy.