October 7, 2000

The Mortensen Award was established, under the direction of Ron Kershaw, in 1987. It was decided the award would be given annually to the one individual who had given outstanding service and leadership to Affirmation. It is the only continuing award Affirmation presents and it tries to recognize the best people in the organization. The past recipients are:

1987 - Paul Mortensen 1988 - Clifford Barnes (†) 1989 - Ina Mae Murri (†) 1990 - Irwin Phelps (†) 1991 - Ron Kershaw (†) 1992 - Larry Gates 1993 - Rick Fernández 1994 - Tere LaGiusa & Jacki Riedeman

1995 - James Kent 1996 - Duane Jennings 1997 - Ricky Gilbert 1998 - David Johnson 1999 - Henry Miller 2000 - Alan Blodgett 2001 - Scott MacKay 2002 - Olin Thomas

2003 - Ben Jarvis 2004 - Mike Miner 2005 - Hugo Salinas 2006 - Brus Leguás Contreras 2007 - James Morris & Aaron Vinck 2008 - Jason Giles 2009 - David Melson 2010 - Bruce Maughan

The selection committee for the award is composed of past recipients. Each year, around July, a call is sent out to all Affirmation leaders, chapters and groups asking for nominations. Anyone may nominate any individual or you may even nominate yourself. The receipt of nomination letters constitutes the only people considered for the award.

The award was established and intended to always be an award for service to Affirmation. This is the only consideration in the selection of the recipient. We greatly applaud those wonderful souls in our midst who also make great contributions to the gay and lesbian community at large. We especially applaud those people who have made outstanding efforts in the Mormon community through related groups such as Family Fellowship, Gamofites and others in increasing the understanding of the gay and lesbian Mormon community.

But because the Mortensen Award is intended to honor only service and leadership to Affirmation, the winner is decided totally on the merits of the nomination letters received and the contributions to Affirmation as spelled out in those letters.

And now on to this year's recipient. Presented by last year's winner, Henry Miller:

Alan accepts award

2000 Mortensen Award Presentation

I have the great honor of introducing the recipient of the 2000 Mortensen Award for outstanding leadership and service to Affirmation. David has introduced the outstanding people that have been nominated to receive the award this year. Each of them is more than worthy of receiving this award. Maybe we should consider giving the award to more than one person when so many great people have been nominated. However there was one more nomination that David didn't introduce. This individual stood out in a singular way.

This individual has been nominated for the award before. This year he was nominated by five different people, all doing it independently of each other, and when the committee cast their votes it was unanimous. This has only happened once before, and this time there were 11 different and diverse committee members that all somehow agreed.

One person who nominated him said: “Forget the vote and just choose him by acclamation.” Another called him an Affirmation “Treasure.” This year's award recipient came into the national organization about six years ago and has been critical to the survival of Affirmation ever since. He is not only a wonderful person but he is totally dedicated to Affirmation on every level. He spends time practically every day doing something for this organization. And he does it in a very compassionate, gentle and loving way. In fact it is his quiet, eloquent manner that has endeared him to all of us.

Ever since he came on board in Affirmation he has been a unifying and steady influence while Directors have come and gone. His calm, reassuring manner has more than once brought clarity and calm during leadership meetings. His professional and expert handlings of finances, as well as his fundraising efforts, have kept Affirmation in the black and able to sustain the annual Conference and other important activities. He devotes an enormous amount of time and talent to ensure that Conferences work smoothly. Last years conference chairwoman said: “He was right at our side through the whole year proceeding the conference. His experience and advice kept us from making mistakes.” Working for the national organization all these years, he never misses a leadership or cornerstone meeting and always comes prepared with results and ideas for improvement.

Most recent of his accomplishments is the establishment of an Affirmation Handbook. He has also helped to organize the Affirmation Endowment Fund and the Writer's Award and he has worked hard to make these things function. He also gives great energy and service to support Gamofites, which also strengthens Affirmation.

His official job as Affirmation treasurer may not be flashy or highly visible-but as the foundation of a house is little seen but critical, so too is this person to Affirmation. We are advised to build our house on a rock—he is part of the rock upon which Affirmation is built.

It is with pride that we recognize not only a great “Affirmation Treasurer” but also a great “Affirmation treasure.” It is with great honor that we give the 2000 Mortensen Award for outstanding leadership and service in Affirmation to one of our members from the Portland Chapter, Alan Blodgett.