The New Mexico Secretary of State’s office has announced a call for nominations for the 2025 John Lewis Youth Leadership Award. The award recognizes young individuals in New Mexico who have demonstrated civic engagement and efforts to improve their communities.
According to the announcement, nominees must be 25 years old or younger at the time of the award presentation. They should be recognized within their community for being civic-minded and working to enhance quality of life locally. The nominee must also have shown a meaningful commitment to addressing civil rights issues, such as voting rights, and contributed to positive change in their community.
Examples of qualifying activities include leadership in specific projects or programs, advocacy work, or contributions to literature, referencing Congressman John Lewis’s own recognition with a National Book Award for young people’s literature.
Nominations can be submitted by filling out a short form by 5 p.m. on November 3, 2025. The Secretary of State’s office will notify the successful candidate by November 13, 2025.
Optional supporting materials—such as photos of the nominee and up to ten pages of digitized documents including news releases, articles, or social media posts—may be included with submissions to assist in the selection process.
Those with questions are encouraged to write them in the nomination form; responses will be provided via email. Multiple youth leaders may be nominated using separate forms for each submission.
"We appreciate your nominations," stated the office in its announcement.
