The inaugural Community Empowerment Awards ceremony, an event that shines the spotlight on individuals and groups who have made exceptional contributions to the community, was held on Dec. 13 by the Ministry of Culture. This year, a total of 138 applications were submitted, vying for the four major awards, namely, Community Empowerment Contribution Award (社造貢獻獎), Community Empowerment Innovation Award (社造創新獎), Youth Action Award (青年行動獎), and Community Empowerment Administration Award (社造行政獎). The awards are divided into group awards and individual awards.
The Ministry invited experts and scholars to form a committee that consists of a panel of 9 judges. After a preliminary review by the committee, 41 submissions (22 for groups, 19 for individuals) were selected and the winners were announced in September after the final evaluation.
At the ceremony, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) presented the Community Empowerment Contribution Award (Group) to Hsin Kang Foundation of Culture and Education (財團法人新港文教基金會) and New Homeland Foundation (財團法人新故鄉文教基金會); while the leader of the My Homeland Studio (吾鄉工作坊) Lu Szu-yueh (盧思岳) was honored with the award for his individual achievements.
Other groups and individuals who were honored across the various awards presented by Culture Minister Lee Yung-te include Matsu Youth Development Association (馬祖青年發展協會) and the founder of Shiding Firefly Bookstore (螢火蟲書屋) Yeh Chia-hao (葉家豪), who won the Community Empowerment Innovation Award; Against Wind Theater (逆風劇團), the co-director of the Daqi Creative Art Village Base (大崎藝農實踐所) Lin Jian-ruei (林建叡), and the co-founder of the Yuanli Say Hi Home (苑裡掀海風) Liu Yu-yu (劉育育), who won the Youth Action Award; and Huxi Township Hall in Penghu County (澎湖縣湖西鄉公所) was the only winner of the Community Empowerment Administration Award under the group category.
Minister Lee stated that MOC has been promoting community empowerment for 28 years. The most fruitful result was to cohere the community people to have a better understanding and recognition of their hometown. Furthermore, it has become one of the most effective ways to convey the policies and values of Taiwan. Since 2019, the government launched the Local Creation Policy. Lee emphasized that community empowerment and local creation must be complementary to each other in the future. However, the purpose of organizing the Community Empowerment Awards is to declare the government’s commitment to promoting community empowerment. It is hoped that through the awards, winners can share their experiences and achievements with the public, thereby driving the development of other communities.