At Baltimore County's Cromwell Valley Elementary School in Towson, state education officials and cable giant Comcast this week launched the Comcast Parent Involvement Matters Award. The award, whose theme is "Choose Your Seat. Get Involved.," is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation and was created to bring attention to the ever-important role of parents in local schools.

The award will recognize a parent or guardian in each of the state's 24 school systems whose "exemplary contributions to public education have led to improvements for Maryland’s public school children, teachers, schools, programs, and/or policies. The purpose of the award is to highlight the positive impact parents have on public schools and to encourage all parents to get involved in whatever they can," according to a statement from state education officials. In addition to the local winners, one state-level winner will be chosen.

Nominations, which must be postmarked Jan. 23, may be made in five areas of parent involvement:

Communication – Fostering communication that impacts the school community.

Volunteering – Recruiting or organizing volunteers, or supporting school activities, both internal and external.

Learning – Organizing or coordinating learning activities that reinforce homework or classroom skills.

Decision Making – Participating on decision-making committees, or in programs that advocate system or policy changes, or serving as a representative for the school or education community.

Community Collaboration – Coordinating resources and services for the school community, which could include fundraisers that would enhance a school’s services or environment, or coordinating resources or services from the school community that may serve an external community.

To be considered for the Comcast Parent Involvement Matters Award, nominees must be a parent, or legal guardian, of a child who attends a Maryland public school and not an employee of Comcast, MSDE, or the Maryland public school system.

If you know someone worthy of being nominated, you can download an application at www.MarylandPublicSchools.org.