Finalists Announced for 2020 NFLPA Alan Page Community Award
NFLPA’s highest honor is presented annually to the player who has a profound impact on his community
FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 2020 NFLPA ALAN PAGE COMMUNITY AWARD
NFLPA’s highest honor is presented annually to the player who has a profound impact on his community
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The NFL Players Association is proud to announce the five finalists for the 2020 NFLPA Alan Page Community Award: Geno Atkins (Cincinnati Bengals), Brandon Carr (Baltimore Ravens), Brandon Copeland (New York Jets), Demario Davis (New Orleans Saints) and Bobby Wagner (Seattle Seahawks).
The Alan Page Community (APC) Award is the highest honor that the NFLPA can bestow upon a player. The award annually recognizes one player who goes above and beyond to serve communities in his team city and hometown. Each of the finalists will receive an additional $10,000 donation from the NFLPA to benefit his foundation or charity of choice. As an award that is for the players and by the players, the APC winner will be determined through an electronic ballot vote by their NFL peers.
This year’s recipient is scheduled to be announced at 3:30 p.m. EST on January 30 at the NFLPA’s annual Super Bowl press conference at the Miami Convention Center. There, the honoree will receive a $100,000 donation to his foundation or charity of choice.
This marks the second straight year that Atkins has been voted as an APC Award finalist. The Pro Bowl defensive lineman earned Week 15 Community MVP honors by holding his second “Atkins Week of Giving” for the holiday season. The seven-day campaign positively impacted more than 350 people from all walks of life in the Cincinnati area through contributions totaling more than $40,000. Gifts included covering dental expenses for the homeless and veterans; hosting luncheons for homeless shelter guests and women in need; and surprising a family in need with a holiday shopping spree as well as Atkins’ barely driven Jeep Cherokee.
In honor of his mother, who passed from breast cancer in 2004, Carr donated $12,500 per game ($200,000 total) this season to fund free screenings and diagnostic mammograms through the National Breast Cancer Foundation. More than 13,000 women who might otherwise not be able to afford these critical tests benefitted as result. The Week 5 Community MVP also launched a new literacy initiative called “Lit Buddies” that provides bi-monthly subscriptions for books and other resources to promote a culture of reading among young students.
Copeland teamed up with his “superhero” friends across the league to help more than 300 underprivileged youth for the holidays. The Week 16 Community MVP put a twist on his annual “December to Remember” event by enlisting the help of 11 other NFL players (active and former) to host seven holiday shopping sprees in New York/New Jersey, Tampa, Baltimore, Dallas, Boston and Oakland.
In a full-circle moment, Davis surprised the students at St. Louis King of France School in New Orleans with a pizza party and “Child of God” headbands. The Week 8 Community MVP had been fined by the NFL for wearing a “Man of God” headband during a game. Davis, an All-Pro linebacker, went on to win his appeal along with a groundswell of support from fans, including SLKF students who made their own “Child of God” headbands. The gesture inspired Davis to begin selling replicas of the headbands and donating all proceeds to the emergency department at St. Dominic Hospital in his home state of Mississippi. More than $250,000 (and counting) has been raised, with Davis personally donating $9,000.
In being named Week 13 Community MVP, Wagner showed a tremendous heart for others by doubling up on his annual Thanksgiving charitable efforts. While packing up meals in the back of a grocery store for nine encampment sites that provide shelter and resources for the homeless, the All-Pro linebacker caught a glimpse of the many holiday shoppers on site. Wagner was moved to spontaneously and anonymously cover the grocery tab for all the shoppers who were on site during his final hour of packing meals.
The nominees for the award were pulled from the NFLPA’s Community MVP campaign, where 18 players were honored every week during the season for their outreach efforts. Each MVP was awarded $10,000 for his foundation or charity of choice. Additionally, our partner Pledge It set up a crowdfunding campaign for each honoree that benefitted a cause important to them during the season. Supporters could pledge donations based on a player’s on-field performance via a chosen stat (i.e. touchdowns, yards, sacks), or they could make a flat donation to support the Community MVP’s charitable cause.
An external panel of judges from across media, sport, and service narrowed the pool of 18 candidates down to five finalists. The panel included former NFL player Israel Idonije, Emmanuel Idonije and Teresa Myers of Athlita Comics (a long-time NFLPA partner that creates the superhero illustrations for each Community MVP), Mike Jones(NFL writer for USA Today), Marc Pollick (president and founder of The Giving Back Fund) and Todd Smith (director of business development for Pledge It).
Learn more about the NFLPA Alan Page Community Award.
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About the NFL Players Association:
The National Football League Players Association is the union for professional football players in the National Football League. Established in 1956, the NFLPA has a long history of assuring proper recognition and representation of players’ interests. The NFLPA has shown that it will do whatever is necessary to assure that the rights of players are protected—including ceasing to be a union, if necessary, as it did in 1989. In 1993, the NFLPA again was officially recognized as the union representing the players, and negotiated a landmark Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFL. The current CBA will govern the sport through the 2020 NFL season. Learn more at www.nflpa.com.