S4C Four-Square Awards - CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

SPACES FOR CHANGE-S4C is pleased to launch the Four-Square Awards in recognition of its members’ loyalty and profound commitment to the group’s overarching objectives, including the various roles they played towards upscaling the organization’s ethical culture and performance in 2013. The maiden edition of Four-Square annual awards proudly announces four broad categories of awards that celebrate group excellence and the most-outstanding individual contributions to intellectual engagement and reflexive learning which S4C is known for. All winners receive a cash price of N20, 000 (Twenty Thousand Naira each).

S4C’s 4,750-member Discussion Forum stands out as the most vibrant discussion group on Facebook social networking site where young Nigerian professionals around the world congregate on a daily basis to engage in robust intellectual debates and learning exchanges on critical social, political and economic governance issues in Nigeria. Its sister forum, S4C POLITICAL FORUM was created in July 2013 to deepen education on political issues and promote youth engagement in the democratic process, towards challenging the perception that “politics is not for the young mind”.

SPACES FOR CHANGE’s Discussion Forum is particularly famed for its e-conferences, leveraging new media technology and crowdsourcing tools to promote public awareness and facilitate citizen engagement in policy and public decision-making processes. Both the admins and members of the group capitalize on S4C’s strong online presence to moderate series of group discussions illuminating how the youth can be actively encouraged to participate in nation-building.

It is now common for key policy makers, lawmakers and development experts to regularly join in, and participate in webinar sessions, e-conferences and moderated discussions in S4C’s online platforms to communicate important updates and enlightenment regarding government policies and programs to the populace. Our online exchanges have enabled critical stakeholders to exchange information, forge alliances, build consensus around possible solutions to complex social and economic issues connected to the reform programs in the oil and power sectors. Even more inspiring is the growing number of passive citizens who have suddenly found their voice, and now firmly understand that they are active participants in nation building.

S4C is hereby inviting nominations for four categories of annual awards:

The THREAD OF THE YEAR: recognizes the thread with the most engaging conversation and robust debate among a wide spectrum of members on a specific economic or social policy of the Nigerian government. The award is given to the person who started the thread.  

The MOST ACTIVE DISCUSSANT OF THE YEAR: Recognizes the person with the highest presence in group discussions and debates in Spaces for Change and S4C Political Forum.

The MOST CIVIL DEBATER OF THE YEAR: recognizes and celebrates a member famed for maintaining high level of civility and decorum in his/her online interactions and engagement with members of the group.

The GROUP INFLUENCER OF THE YEAR: recognizes the person whose contributions are regularly filled with strong intellectual energy, topical versatility and potential to educate other members, while affecting and influencing policy choices and decisions.

We hope that receiving awards of this nature will burnish members’ commitment even further to build upon the lessons learned from regular learning exchanges, and infuse them into policy processes as would result in more effective and rights-respecting approaches to governance and development. S4C will continue to explore and utilize innovative ways to extend and integrate youth-driven ideas, knowledge, concerns, goals and priorities into the government’s social and economic policy and program decision-making and implementation processes. Finally, S4C will not relent in its efforts to forge a movement that will contribute to making our society and our world a more just, equitable, and beautiful place.