Click here to see the “Andy” award
winners.The first “Andy'” awards are given to four young people who excel in
public service in art, science, music or literature
One permanent result of the Carnegie Centennial year will be an annual award given
to youth between the ages of 15 and 25 who have shown outstanding leadership in one
of the four disciplines celebrated at Carnegie Museums and Library. We hear often
about adult accomplishments being recognized by Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, Oscars,
“genius” awards, and good citizenship acclaim. And we reward youth regularly for sports
ability and academic excellence in school. But we seldom honor young people for outstanding
personal dedication to art, science, music and literature.
The Carnegie Centennial Award is not designed for the most accomplished young performer
in music, literature or art, or for the most gifted scientist-but rather it goes to
youth who show outstanding civic leadership as volunteers, and who initiate and serve
in projects to enhance and enrich the lives of others. The candidates must be nominated
by a community, neighborhood group, agency, club or organization within Allegheny
County which sponsors the volunteer service, or recognizes its vital and social importance
to others.
This is a Carnegie-spirited award. In 1904 Andrew Carnegie created his Hero Award,
for citizen volunteers who helped someone in danger, often saving the other person’s
life and sometimes losing his or her own life in the process. It was the self-sacrifice,
the instinct to help, that Carnegie admired, for he saw it as coming from a deep wellspring
of the human spirit-and this he believed was a basic quality upon which civilization
depended. He believed in the civilizing influences of literature, music, art and science,
and wanted to encourage that. In the same spirit the Carnegie Centennial Awards encourage
young people to pursue their love of science and these arts.
“It was difficult to explain simply the concept of the Andy award,” says Lorene
Vinski, assistant to the president of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. She and others
struggled to get the idea right, and the wording of the application, and the proper
rewards, true to the purpose. Why not give a college scholarship? Other institutions
and groups already award them, and Carnegie Museums and Library are in themselves
places of educational opportunity. In addition, the Museums and Library are driven
by their grassroots mission, and community service goals. Why should an award for
young people extend to age 25? Because college students should not be ruled out, and
they are still in the educational system, without full-time jobs, and their volunteerism
deserves encouragement. Why is “initiative” or “leadership” in serving the arts and
sciences important? Because it shows adaptation to modern life. Who could predict
the influence of computers upon literature, or the rise of ecology to scientific importance,
and how people are changed as a result?
For these and other reasons, the Carnegie Centennial Award was a logical result
of the Centennial year celebrations. “We wanted this award to reflect Andrew Carnegie’s
philosophy that individuals who devote themselves, without reward, to work for the
good of the community are our most valuable asset,” said Janie Thompson, Chair of
the Carnegie Centennial committee. “We were extremely impressed by the young people
who were nominated and by the caliber of the projects they led. Our four winners truly
embody the Carnegie ideal.”
At the awards presentation on November 9, 1996, each of the young people received
a cash award of $250, a special guest pass to Carnegie Museums, and a replica of the
appropriate “noble quartet” sculpture: either Shakespeare, Bach, Michelangelo or Galileo.
The nominating organization also receives a $250 cash award, and can make a selection
from a list of resources and program opportunities available at the museums and library.
All the nominations were initially reviewed by a screening committee, and a Board
of Selectors, comprised of leaders from Allegheny County, made the final selections.
The Centennial Award Committee is co-chaired by Nancy Rackoff and Susie Wean, who
trust that this first set of awards is the start of a tradition that will honor many
outstanding young people who volunteer to make a difference in their neighborhoods.
For more information on the Carnegie Centennial Award, call 412/622-3335
-R. Jay Gangewere
