Awards
Arkansas REALTORS® Association proudly recognizes members and community leaders for their outstanding service and dedication. The Arkansas REALTORS® Association encourages ALL members to apply or nominate others for our awards presented below. While many of the awards are presented annually to honor exceptional individuals, each award has its very own unique criteria where applications and nominations are required.
REALTOR®-of-the-Year
The REALTOR®-of-the-Year award is an annual peer award of the Arkansas REALTORS® Association granted to the one REALTOR® who best exemplifies the REALTOR® spirit. It is based on criteria set by the National Association of REALTORS® and includes business accomplishments, community service, activity in the local, state and national REALTOR® organizations, and adherence to the Golden Rule in all life situations. Contact your local AE for the REALTOR of the Year application to submit to your local board.
The Arkansas REALTORS® Association proudly lists below the persons who have been named Arkansas REALTOR®-of-the-Year since the award was first presented in 1960.
Previous winners
L. Wayne Camp Award
In his honor the L. Wayne Camp award was established in 1998 as the ARA’s highest public relations award to recognize continuing and outstanding volunteerism by a REALTOR® for Arkansas Special Olympics. It is distributed annually at the ARA Convention.
The History of the L. Wayne Camp Award
In 1986 Arkansas REALTORS® Association President L. Wayne Camp charged the Make America Better Committee (the forerunner of the Public Relations Committee) with a statewide community service project—volunteerism and fundraising for Arkansas Special Olympics. He appointed Jim and Brenda Rochelle of Texarkana as Co-Chairs of the Make America Better Committee to implement and oversee the project. Part of the incentives were the sale and distribution of “REALTOR® Blue” sweatshirts that had the blue-and-gold REALTOR® logo screen printed on the back. REALTOR® volunteers at the Special Olympics: local, area, and state games, were encouraged to wear the sweatshirts to identify themselves as volunteers ready and willing to help. In the first year fundraising took a backseat to volunteerism. President Camp’s home REALTOR® Board, the North Central Board of REALTORS® in Mountain Home, had a turnout of over 50% of its membership at the ASO local and area games with Lorecia Fitzgerald (now Lorecia MacKinder) as part of the volunteer team along with REALTOR® Mike MacKinder, who is now located in Little Rock. All three have consistently given leadership encouragement and volunteer time to ASO over the years.
Adopted as a one-year project, the work for Arkansas Special Olympics was so rewarding it has been the Arkansas REALTORS® Association’s community-outreach project of the Public Relations Committee for the next twenty years. (In 1995 L. Wayne Camp chaired the ten-year anniversary of the ASO project. 1997 ARA President Roy D. Rainey, Jr., renamed the Make America Better Committee as the Public Relations Committee and made volunteerism and fundraising for Arkansas Special Olympics a permanent part of its projects.)
The Arkansas REALTORS® Association has raised more money for Arkansas Special Olympics than any other organization, and as of the end of 2012 has raised over Two Million Dollars. The longevity of the project and the fundraising amount has set a record among all the REALTOR® Boards and Association’s in the country.
Many have followed L. Wayne Camp as Chair of the ARA fundraising for Arkansas Special Olympics but he was the pioneer. In his honor the L. Wayne Camp award was established in 1998 as the ARA’s highest public relations award to recognize continuing and outstanding volunteerism by a REALTOR® for Arkansas Special Olympics. It is distributed annually at the ARA Convention.
Previous winners
Shaddox Award
It is to be presented to the one person who, in the opinion of the judges, had made outstanding, long-term and continuing contributions to the Arkansas REALTORS® volunteerism and fundraising for Hearts and Homes of Arkansas.
Previous winners
Distinguished Service Award
The Arkansas REALTORS® Association’s Distinguished Service Award is not given every year and is given under strict criteria. It is given under the premise that the award seeks the person. Among these requirements are that the recipient may not have served as President of the Arkansas REALTORS® Association or been named REALTOR®-of-the-Year. The recipient must have attained the age of 60 or have at least 25 years of service in the ARA and local board leadership and that the recipient has been recognized as an extraordinary leader.