The American Legion’s Post Excellence Award criteria has changed. To now qualify for the Post Excellence Award, a post is required to achieve excellence in four areas: membership, submission of the Consolidated Post Report (CPR), sharing of post history and community activity.
The purposes of this award are membership growth, exposure of American Legion values to the community, and increased visibility of the American Legion Family through service projects. A post achieving this qualification will have had numerous post members involved in planning and achieving these goals. Many posts are most likely already active in these areas and will qualify without extra effort. Others, however, will need to increase their efforts in one or more areas to qualify for the award.
The standard to be achieved in each area is as follows:
Membership. Post membership must be at least one member greater than the previous year. At least one post officer attends district meetings.
Consolidated Post Report. CPRs must be submitted by July 1. The American Legion’s federal charter requires the submission of an annual report to Congress on activities for the year. MyLegion.org has made it simple for a post to submit its CPR in a timely manner.
Sharing of post history: The American Legion’s Centennial web page (www.legion.org/centennial) allows posts to share their history with the intent of collecting pieces to tell the larger story of The American Legion’s first century.
Community activity. An event must be conducted that connects the local community with the American Legion post. The objective is to open post doors and welcome the community in and educate them on what The American Legion is about and how the post is an asset to the community. Posts do not need to have a physical building to accomplish this; this activity can be held in a park, a community center, or anywhere the post can welcome and interact with the local community.
The district commander responsible for the post will certify a post as having achieved the four specified criteria. The district commander will submit a list of posts that meet the criteria to department headquarters. That list should include the post name, phone number, address and commander’s name. If possible, accompany the last two criteria with copies of press releases submitted to the local media about the events to show that the events were not only accomplished, but that an attempt was made to enhance the image of The American Legion through local media. The copy submitted should include a date and time stamp showing receipt by the media outlet.
The department adjutant will transmit information as posts qualify to:
The American Legion National Headquarters
Attn: Membership
P.O. Box 1055
Indianapolis, IN 46206-1055
