Kyle Horn

The deadline is tonight to submit entries for the fifth annual Iowa Job Honor Awards.

Kyle Horn is the founder and director of the parent organization, America’s Job Honor Awards.

“The purpose is, we celebrate individuals who have overcome significant barriers to employment,” Horn says, “and in so doing, we’re working to promote the entry of those job seekers into the workforce.” Nominations are being taken at the website www.jobhonor.org. Each year, he says, there have been a wide array of nominees.

“Employment barriers can take a variety of forms,” Horn says. “It may range from prior criminal convictions to a mental or physical disability. It may be immigrant or refugee status. It may be age, a person is encountering ageism in their job search.” It’s not just the job seekers which the awards are aiming to champion.

“We have two categories of honorees,” Horn says. “First, individuals who have overcome significant barriers to employment and second, organizations that do a laudable job of hiring those individuals.” Last year’s winners included the Animal Rescue League of Iowa and SSI Printing of Storm Lake. The winners will be recognized at the Iowa Society for Human Resource Management Conference in Coralville on September 27th.

(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)