Honoring Navy League Members
Navy League councils are at the heart of our mission, supporting the sea services on a grassroots level. Their work ensures sea service members around the globe feel supported while they serve.
The Navy League honors councils with Council Performance Awards for general participation, Mackie Awards for communications, and Sea Service Unit Adoption Excellence Awards for supporting sea service members.
Our awards are handed out at our annual Navy League National Convention.
Types of Awards
Council Performance Awards
Our Council Performance Awards recognize councils that strived for excellence in multiple areas throughout the prior calendar year. These awards are judged based on entries in a council’s annual report, which details all of a council’s activities throughout the year.
2024 Council Performance Award Winners
Retention
- Central Pennsylvania- President: John Groenveld
- Tulsa- President: Matt Norris
- Alamo- President: Burt Quintanilla
Recruitment
- Jane Ferreira- Honolulu
- Jeff Leibowitz- Palm Beach
- Tim Bohan- North Dakota
Outstanding
- New York- James Spear
- Greater Kansas City- Dave Miller
- Camden-Kings Bay- Robert Dickman
- Honolulu- Jeff Griffin
- Hampton Roads- Maryellen Baldwin
- Treasure Coast- Peter Petrelis
- Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula – Thomas Zwolfer
- Placer County- Bonnie Potter
- Mayport- Bob Whitkop
- Central Florida- Tim Hill
Meritorious
- Saint Augustine- Palm Coast- Joseph Giammanco
- Vallejo- Steve Nash
- Alameda- Barbara Day
- Sarasota-Manatee- Gene Moran
- Atlanta Metropolitan- Will Seippel
- Newport County- Robert Winneg
- Oak Harbor- Beth Munns
- Savannah- O.C. Fowler
- Pittsburgh- Thomas Clark
- National Capital – Thomas Callender
- Dallas – David Alford
- Key West- Martin Jenkins
Honorable Mention
- Kingsville- Lance Hamm
- Seattle- Stephen Keith
- Sun Coast- Bill Urbanek
- Minnesota- Joe Fraser
- Greater Cincinnati- Peter Borden
- Saint Louis- Timothy Raines
2023 Council Performance Award Winners
Outstanding
Alameda
Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula
Central Florida
Channel Islands
Honolulu
Key West
Massachusetts Bay
New York
Pensacola
Placer County
San Diego
Sarasota-Manatee
Savannah
Treasure Coast
International Outstanding
Singapore
International Meritorious
Siam
International Honorable Mention
Commodore Perry
Meritorious
Atlanta-Metropolitan
Coronado
Dallas
Denver
Detroit Women
Greater Cincinnati
Greater Kansas City
Imperial Valley
Kingsville
Marin County
Milwaukee
Mississippi
National Capital
New Mexico
Newport County
Pittsburgh
Yuma
Honorable Mention
Broward County
Contra Costa
Corpus Christi
Glenview
Hampton Roads
Metropolitan Detroit
Minnesota
New Hampshire
Patuxent River
Philadelphia
Richmond
Sun Coast
2022 Council Performance Award Winners
Outstanding
Atlanta Metropolitan
Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula
Central Florida
Denver
Greater Cincinnati
Honolulu
Imperial Vally
Key West
New York
Placer County
San Diego
Savannah
Treasure Coast
Yuma
Meritorious
Alameda
Fort Lauderdale
Greater Chattanooga
Greater Kansas City
Jacksonville
Minnesota
National Capital
Newport County
Richmond
Sarasota-Manatee
St Augustine-Palm Beach
Vallejo
Honorable Mention
Glenview
Mississippi
New Mexico
Upper South Carolina
Seattle
Sun Coast
Mackie Awards
The Mackie Awards are a series of three different awards given to Navy League councils for their communications efforts. Each of the awards are judged by a basic set of initial screening criteria and additionally are scored based on criteria that views the quality of work. Below is some information on how the Mackie Awards are judged.
The Mackie Awards are submitted and judged based on a council’s annual report submission.
Awards Criteria
All Mackie awards will go through an initial judging criteria. Any nominations that do not adhere to the below will be disqualified.
- Councils must be clearly and correctly identified as a council of the Navy League of the United States (not U.S. Navy League or other iterative of the official name, not a “chapter,” etc.).
- Councils must respect the 501c3 status of the Navy League by not having partisan political commentary or graphics.
- Contact information must be provided.
- Only the current eagle and anchor version of the headquarters logo can be used. It cannot be combined with past versions of the logo.
- The Marine Corps seal must not be used on websites or in newsletters, per legal requirements from that service branch.
Newsletter
- Newsletters must be published a minimum of four times per calendar year.
- Criteria include quality of writing, readability and layout, timeliness of information, variety of subject matter, good use of photos and captions, and proper spelling and grammar.
Website
- Council websites must contain a link back to the headquarters homepage.
- Council websites must link out to each of the four sea services.
- Websites must have been in use for at least part of the judging year.
- Websites must not undergo any major revisions between award submission and judging.
- Websites must contain the official Navy League headquarters logo in the header of the site. It cannot be combined with past versions of the logo.
- Other criteria include original content, ease of reading, organization and navigation, timely information, visually attractive design, proper spelling and grammar, working links, mobile friendliness, use of a clear mission statement, and a link back to the Navy League headquarters website.
Communications (Social Media)
- The social property being judged must have been in use for at least part of the judging year.
- Other criteria include frequency, quality of posts, timeliness, subject matter, use of imagery, original content, and use of methods of engagement (ex. hashtags, links, etc.).
- For social media, submitting multiple channels does not equal more points. Judges review all sites submitted and take an average score for all social media properties.
Judging Rules
Each category of the Mackie Awards is judged on its own merits, with each award graded on the above criteria. Each of these items receives a score of between one and five. Then, each member of the judging committee’s scores are tallied and then the following grading curve is applied:
Top score: Platinum
Top score minus 10: Gold
Top score minus 20: Silver
Top score minus 30: Bronze
2024 Mackie Awards Winners
Platinum
Newsletter
New York
Sun Coast
Mayport
Broward County
Kingsville
Richmond
Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula
Placer County
Channel Islands
San Diego
Camden-Kings Bay
Minnesota
Seattle
Denver
Website
New York
Central Florida
Sarasota-Manatee
Sun Coast
Treasure Coast
Cape Canaveral
Mayport
Social Media
New York
Mayport
Kingsville
National Capital
Seattle
Honolulu
Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula
Gold
Newsletter
Central Florida
New Mexico
Alameda
Atlanta Metropolitan
Newport County
Yuma
Pensacola
Website
Broward County
Key West
Pittsburgh
Dallas
Kingsville
National Capital
Hampton Roads
Richmond
Greater Kansas City
Saint Louis
Minnesota
Newport County
Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula
Lake Washington-Everett
Seattle
Social Media
Central Florida
Sun Coast
Broward County
Minnesota
San Diego
Denver
Mobile
Treasure Coast
Hampton Roads
Greater Kansas City
Saint Louis
Lake Washington-Everett
Atlanta Metropolitan
Savannah
Pensacola
Silver
Newsletter
Greater Chattanooga
Website
Tacoma
Honolulu
Placer County
Alameda
Lake Merritt
Social Media
Key West
Pittsburgh
Sarasota-Manatee
Yuma
Santa Barbara
Bronze
Newsletter
Pittsburgh
Lake Washington-Everett
Website
Yuma
Channel Islands
Santa Barbara
Social Media
Cape Canaveral
Alameda
Channel Islands
Sea Service Adoption Excellence Awards
The Sea Service Adoption Excellence Awards are presented annually at the Navy League National Convention to councils that have demonstrated the strongest commitment to direct support of sea service units through robust adoption and youth programs. The award is inclusive of support to all types of adopted sea service units, including youth groups.
The process to judge this award in 2025 for 2024 has changed slightly from last year.
As for 2023, the award process for 2024 WILL NOT involve separate submissions from councils. Councils will be considered for the award if they:
- Are in a council of good standing,
- Submit both 2024 annual report sections “Sea Service Support and Events” and “Youth Support Activities:”
- Check the “Yes” radio button next to “Does your council wish to be considered for the Sea Service Unit Adoption Excellence Award?” in the Sea Service Support and Events section; and
- Answers the associated pop-up questions in the report form.
So please ensure these sections provide sufficient detail to assess the quality of your engagement with the Sea Services and youth groups. Refer to the Sea Service Unit Adoption Guide for the types of activities which are considered meaningful engagement with your adopted units, but don’t hesitate to add new activities that may not be in the guide (yet!).
As with all sections of the report, you may submit amplifying photos or documents as attachments, but those attachments SHOULD NOT TAKE THE PLACE OF completing the form fields of the report.
To afford equitable competition, councils will be evaluated within five council size brackets based on end-of-year membership data for 2024. This unique approach is appropriate because council size correlates directly with the resources available to support adopted/sponsored units. The 2024 award council size brackets are:
Extra Large: >400
Large: 200-400
Medium: 101-199
Small: 45-100
Very Small: <45
As in prior years, there will not be “levels” of award (i.e.; platinum, gold, etc.) as done with the Council Performance Awards and Mackie Awards.
The total number of Sea Service Adoption Excellence Awards given for 2024 will be comparable to the number of Council Performance Awards given.
The judging timeline will parallel that of other council awards and be somewhat transparent to councils after their annual report is submitted.
2024 Adoption Award Winners
- Very Large: Honolulu, National Capital, New York
- Large: Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula, Central Florida, Dallas, Minnesota, Saint Louis, Seattle
- Medium: Denver, Greater Cincinnati, Greater Kansas City, Key West, Kingsville, Mayport, Newport County, Pittsburgh, Placer County, Richmond, Sarasota-Manatee, Savannah
- Small: Alameda, Sun Coast, Vallejo
- Very Small: Lake Merritt