A new wave of Military Spouse of the Year candidates were released Feb. 1, as the annual contest got underway for 2017.
The candidates were nominated by friends and family over the month of January. Once candidates accepted his or her nomination, they had a chance to fill out a profile detailing why they should be spouse of the year and upload a photo for voters to see once the nominee list was released.
There are over 400 nominees this year from across the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and National Guard and Coast Guard representing every state, OCONUS and most U.S. bases worldwide.
Now is your chance to vote for who you think should be recognized as "base winners." That designation is based purely on the popular vote, so your opinion matters.
Those winners will continue to the next round where a panel of judges from Military Spouse Magazine, including past winners, will examine the nominees and take into consideration the votes you cast. They'll whittle the list down to 18 top contestants and give you a one-day only chance to vote for one of those Feb. 20. After that it's on March 2 when you'll be able to pick from among the top six winners to designate the Military Spouse the Year.
That winner will be announced at a May luncheon near Washington, D.C. -- where I will be to bring the news live and in the flesh.
But for now what you need to do is take a peek at the nominees, and pick one you want to support. We see many familiar faces in the list, including some personal friends of mine and military spouses who have really gone above and beyond for our community. I'm excited to follow this process.
