AKRON — Goodyear has extended the deadline for its annual Highway Hero Award, which honors professional truck drivers who put themselves in harm's way to help others, through Jan. 31.
Nomination forms for the 36th annual Goodyear Highway Hero Award are available at goodyeartrucktires.com. The winner will be announced in March, coinciding with the 2020 Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) in Louisville, Ky., Goodyear said.
Last year's Goodyear Highway Hero Award winner was U.S. military veteran Paul Mathias. A driver for System Transport of Cheney, Wash., Mr. Mathias stepped in when he witnessed an accident in late 2017 at an intersection in Phoenix, where a vehicle running a red light slammed into an SUV containing a mother and her two children.
Mr. Mathias helped the mother perform CPR on her son and comforted her daughter, who died on the scene from her injuries. Mr. Mathias administered CPR on the boy until emergency crews arrived. The boy survived.
To be considered for the award, candidates must meet the following criteria:
- Be a full-time truck driver;
- Reside in the U.S. or Canada;
- Must have operated a truck with 12 wheels or more at the time of the incident;
- Must have been on the job — or on the way to or from work, in his or her truck — at the time of the incident; and
- Incident must have taken place between Nov. 16, 2018, and Nov. 16, 2019.
A panel of trucking judges will choose the winner of the 2020 award. The winner will receive a cash award, among other prizes. Each finalist will also receive a cash prize and various items.
A copy of rules is available here.