Yesterday a Dutch lady that's so passionate about charity and humanity asked me a question after our discussions and her interest in nominating someone for MBE Award 2016. The question was, "Are There Any Costs?, my answer was ,"NO!". Then she went further "Wow, you know there are so many of these awards where you pay for your own award, at least here at ......" I decided to edit the actual place, she might not want to expose it, I may have to interview her soon and talk about it if she wants.
An acquaintance, from Nigeria asked similar question two weeks ago, "What's the implication of nomination? No cash?", my response was, "So people ask for money for award nominations?" I was surprised, even though people brought that kind of talks to me once or twice, but we are not going that way of indecency.
For us at MBE we have never charged NO ONE for any award nomination or the award itself, not even for the purchase of plaques from awardee and this will forever remain so.
In the past we have sent awards across from Europe all the way to the USA with no single cent charged. It was in 2013 when "EFG Couture" that lives in Florida won the BEST FASHION DESIGNER. We always advise nominees to send friends or family to represent them and receive the award but in her case she didn't have anyone in Amsterdam, so she suggested she will send money for the award to be posted to her, since is our policy not to receive any type of money for award, even though it was for postage, people may change the story that award was paid for not saying clearly that it was for postage. I said NO to her suggestion, then we suggested that it will be posted to her and she can pay for the postage at the the other end. Getting to the post office, we realised they don't operate like that again, so MBE had to pay for the postage. All was with no charge, we never claim for postage because we do not want any little thing to stain our good name and also it looks so cheap to us.
We do not know this lady, we have never had any kind of communication with her since she acknowledged that she got the award.
Another instance is sending award to Mr Rena Callist, CEO Miss East Africa; at the last minute, due to some important issues he couldn't make the journey from Tanzania to The Netherlands in 2013. We sent his award to his Embassy, all with no charge.
Few other instances of awards sent to others or sent to a convenient place for MBE and the awardees, all with no charge.
Since 2014 we have changed our policy, we do not send awards plaque to anyone again, we encourage people to be present at the award ceremony or at least send someone in, that shows love and respect for what MBE is doing and also the spirit of participation is spirit of love and appreciation.
And no one should confuse sponsoring with awards, we make sure that we don't mix it up and we make it very clear to people that want to sponsor. Yes we do seek for sponsorship, collaboration, support and look for volunteers to assist, this is an appropriate thing to do, even nations seek for sponsorship, grants, name it.
I told a friend and one time MBE sponsor few years ago, that, him sponsoring has nothing to do with Awards or him being a Goodwill Ambassador, as a sponsor you get advertisement and many other benefits in return on MBE platforms and also on my private platforms (Magazine and Blog site). MBE Improver Awards is a prestigious award and we want to keep it so.
Last year a close friend of mine from the National House of Rep in Abuja sent in a token to me while I was in the Gambia for MBE 2015 because he was not able to make it due to a meeting or so that came up at the last minute. Yes, that was a token from a friend, supporting what he believes I'm doing, and doing well, not for award or award plaque.
Any award that is being paid for loses its credibility, distinction, honour, value, grace, excellency, pride, worth, and elegance.
MBE stands for purity, kindness, humanity and love, we are happy doing what Mother Nature puts in our hearts to do.
Money is sweet, we appreciate it, but not everything in life is about money. We must learn to give back in our little ways. Dignity is essential in all we do. There's when to charge for money and when not to, award is one of the things you mustn't charge for.
Money doesn't buy my heart and I don't sell my heart to the devil; I have been behind with different privileged people, with 'wants' and 'urge' like any man would seek for, I did not give in, I'm not an angel, but I do reply with a lot of No, No, No when necessary. When the chemistry is not there, it's not there, won't force it for money or 'extra prestige'. To support MBE or any other thing I do, it doesn't mean I need to take that 'thing' off and I do not need to lie to fool anyone for that moment to get what I want. I have a pure heart, deceit to me is no go area. Remember I just wrote that I'm not an angel, also I'm not perfect, but dignity and decency I keep so close to me.
"MBE Improver Awards is celebrated yearly to acknowledge, celebrate and confer excellence on individuals who devoted their all in promoting human welfare and advancing reforms in their specific fields, not forgetting our cultural heritage, and what we as humans stand for." We believe doing this will encourage awardees to do more and also others would like to do nicely to be honoured and together we make a better and great community that is crime free and peaceful for all.
We do appreciate the ones that believe in us and know what we stand for and the ones that are ready to know more about us and help us in achieving our goals in making the world a suitable and happy place for all.
We say thanks to our sponsors, fans, followers and volunteers.
http://www.missblackeurope.com/award-winners.php
http://www.missblackeurope.com/sponsors.php
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