CELEBRATE
DENVER
About the Denver 150
In celebration of its 150th birthday on November 22, 2008, the City and County of
Denver has selected 150 of its citizens to honor as "unsung heroes" - ordinary
people who have done extraordinary things to help make our City a better one
for this and future generations.
To find and honor 150 people who represent this ideal, the City published a call-
for-nominations, looking for citizens who, through their work, passion,
commitment or activism, are making Denver an even better place than it is now.
We accepted nominations from all fields of interest such as business, the arts and
community development; from all neighborhoods; and from all kinds of people,
regardless of age, gender or race.
We received hundreds of nominations, and virtually every one of them was
worthy of being honored.
Because of the volume of nominations, we had to create a representational
snapshot of the City. To that end, a committee comprised of public and private
officials from numerous City, civic and private organizations used our
established criteria for their selection: The nominees had to be living, they had to
reside or work within Denver, their work had to be transformational and they
had to be an "unsung hero" - someone who has not been widely recognized or
rewarded in the past. We strived to represent all parts of the City and to
represent the broad diversity of the many aspects of City life. Also, we felt
compelled to exclude City and government employees, whose job it is to help
make Denver great. They are all unsung heroes for all they do to make life better
for everyone.
"What is the city but the people?" William Shakespeare wrote it; we etched it
into our municipal building. And never were their truer words for Denver's 150
- people who are making Denver a great city today and for the next 150 years.
