We haven't gotten any nominations as of yet, but we are very excited for this year's Excellence Awards. We want to recognize people who have gone above and beyond.

The Excellence Awards have been going on since the 1970s with teaching awards. We try to get people interested, and to nominate people who really deserve to be recognized.

The 2006 winners continue the tradition of excellence and leadership symbolized by the Common Wealth Awards.

It's the first time there will be Asian Excellence Awards handed out for performances on TV, movies and the theater. Now that you have Asians starting to break through in mainstream TV, it's appropriate to recognize them. AZN is designed for Asian-Americans, but we believe everyone has an interest in this programming.

A few nominations have come in.

Students can nominate anyone on the [URI] staff. We've had students nominate the janitor in their building because they have gone above and beyond expectations.