Hometown Heroes: It's your last chance to honor unsung greatness
May 27-Back in March, we asked our readers to once again point their attention away from political and societal chaos and focus inward, to home, where we are pretty sure you can name plenty of ordinary people authoring some extraordinary - heroic, even - accomplishments.
We're still asking.
The Vallejo Times-Herald and Vacaville Reporter are still asking for your help to find our third annual Richard Freedman Solano County Hometown Hero for each city. The honor is named after the Times-Herald's longtime community editor, columnist, and Hometown Hero with an eye on giving back.
The winner of each honor, just like the other winners in this joint project with a dozen other Northern California newspapers that are part of the California Newspaper Partnership, will again receive a $500 prize.
It's as simple as ever. Just email us at heroes@timesheraldonline.com for Vallejo and heroes@thereporter.com for Vacaville with the name of someone you want to nominate for the honor. Include your reasons behind your nomination, and a way to contact your nominee.
We ask for your nominations by 8 a.m. Monday, June 1.
From there, each newspaper will select a group of finalists before determining a winner. We will profile each finalist and each paper's winner.
How you choose your hero and what criteria you want to establish for your hero is entirely up to you. You can send us an email about anyone you see as someone who does great things for other people, animals, or the environment, or anything you consider hero-worthy. We'll give equal consideration to heroes who perform their extraordinary feats behind the scenes and those who are paid to do it.
There is but one qualification for your nominee. Your hero must be a Solano County resident.
Your nominee might be a home health care worker providing much-needed companionship for our senior citizens, a firefighter putting his or her life on the line to keep the rest of us safe, or a coach donating his time on behalf of our kids (while putting up with everything else that entails).
How about the school board trustee who puts education above politics? Or the homeless advocate who spends countless hours offering help and supplies to our citizens who need it the most?
The everyday heroics of people doing great things behind the scenes have always been a big part of what makes Solano County such a special place to live. We're looking forward to receiving your nominations and sharing their stories.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.