The Season of Flowers (and the People Who Deserve Them)

Introducing the Orange Blossom Awards — coming this December

December has a reputation for being… a lot. Family gatherings, year-end deadlines, the existential dread of realizing you’ve once again ignored your dentist. But in Tampa Bay, we’re proposing something different this year — a month-long love letter to the people who keep this place humming, healing, and hopeful.

Meet The Orange Blossom Awards — a new Arts Passport tradition named for Florida’s state flower and designed for one purpose: to give people their flowers now, not “someday.”

Starting December 1, we’ll spotlight one community member each day. Not celebrities. Not influencers. The real backbone folks. The volunteers who always say yes. The neighbor who organizes the group sale. The teaching artist who changes kids’ lives quietly, consistently. The people who show up when no one’s watching — and when everyone’s tired.

We’ll take submissions from the community (you), and then we’ll curate a lineup that reflects the wide, bright, beautifully messy sweep of Tampa Bay. Think of it as a daily act of noticing — a bouquet offered in the middle of the busiest month of the year.

And on December 31, we’ll close it all out by naming The 2025 Orange Blossom Beacon — the highest honor in our new tradition. This recognition will go to one extraordinary individual whose presence has lit the way for others this year. Someone whose impact didn’t just help people — it changed the temperature of the room, the block, or the entire community.

This isn’t an awards ceremony.
It’s a community practice.
A chance to say: We see you. We appreciate you. You make this place bloom.

Nominate a Neighbor Who Lights the Way

Who deserves their flowers this year?
Use the form below to nominate someone for our December series and for The 2025 Orange Blossom Beacon. We’re looking for helpers, culture-shapers, quiet leaders, risk-takers, and the steady hands who make Tampa Bay a kinder, brighter place.

Tell us who they are — and why they deserve a spotlight.