Inside the department
The DC Rob Nugent
Award for Excellence
Three awards of $1,500 — one from A shift, one from B, one from C — presented every year at the St. Petersburg Fire Rescue awards banquet to members who hold the standard Rob held. Established and funded by Karen and Jim Harte.
This is an internal St. Petersburg Fire Rescue process. Nominations come only from the department’s Division Chiefs and District Chiefs — there is no public, outside or self-nomination. Everything below is published so the standard behind the award is visible.
Purpose
Recognize the people who already do it right.
The award recognizes sworn St. Petersburg Fire Rescue personnel who demonstrate exceptional performance, strong character, and a real commitment to emergency services. It exists to reinforce a culture of professionalism, accountability and teamwork — and to put money behind the continued education of the people who live it.
Karen and Jim Harte — Rob’s mother and step-father — established the award and fund it, and Chief Rich Ganci built the criteria and the process with them. The family asked for something rigorous on purpose. Rob would have been suspicious of an award that was easy to win, and he would have quietly refused to accept one himself.
Recipients are encouraged to spend the award on professional development and to bring what they learn back to their crew. There is no post-award reporting requirement.
Eligibility
Who can be nominated.
Every criterion has to be met. A nominee who clears the bar on paper still needs the examples to back it up.
- Completion of the department’s three-year JATC program by the end of the nomination calendar year
- Sworn personnel in good standing
- No disciplinary action within the previous twelve months
- Excellent attendance
- Strong work ethic and a team-oriented mindset
- High moral and professional standards — holding the St. Pete Standard
- Demonstrated initiative in professional growth and development
Selection
Five steps, and none of them are a formality.
A nomination is a chief putting their own name behind a specific claim about a specific member, and the claim gets verified before it goes anywhere. Every submission is scored against a six-category rubric, checked against the disciplinary and attendance record, and then discussed directly with the chief who wrote it. Most candidates do not reach the short list.
- 01
Nominations collected
Division Chiefs and District Chiefs submit nominations by 1700 on October 31. Incomplete or late submissions are not considered, and a nomination without specific examples counts as incomplete.
- 02
Eligibility and initial review
The Suppression Chief verifies JATC completion, disciplinary standing and baseline criteria, then completes a scoring sheet for every candidate. Evaluation scores support the decision; they do not make it.
- 03
Short list
Two to three candidates per shift move forward. The Suppression Chief speaks with each nominating chief to clarify the examples given and validate the claims behind them.
- 04
Final selection
The Suppression Chief and the Award Executor carry the short list forward, and the entire family reads every nomination together and selects the winners. The Fire Rescue Chief is notified once the selections are made.
- 05
Presentation
Recipients are announced and presented with a plaque at the annual awards banquet, with the Nugents and the Hartes in attendance.
Scoring
What the review panel weighs.
Candidates are scored out of 100 against six categories. The detailed rubric stays inside the department; the weighting is published here so anyone writing a nomination knows where to spend their words.
| Category | Points |
|---|---|
| Work ethicConsistency of effort, initiative, and willingness to go past the minimum. | 20 |
| Team contribution and crew impactSupporting and developing others; putting the crew’s success ahead of personal recognition. | 20 |
| Performance examplesSpecific, verifiable, repeated — not one good night. | 20 |
| Character and integrityTrusted by peers and supervisors; acts right when it is difficult. | 20 |
| Attendance and reliabilityDependable, available, committed to the assignment. | 10 |
| TrackIT recordEvaluations and performance logs that reinforce the nomination over time. | 10 |
| Total | 100 |
The nomination
Written by a chief, and written like it matters.
The nomination summary runs 500 to 1,000 words and asks for specific examples across work ethic, crew impact, professional growth, and character. Generic endorsements are set aside. Completed nominations go to the Division Chief of Suppression by close of business on October 31.
Who can nominate
Only St. Petersburg Fire Rescue Division Chiefs and District Chiefs may submit a nomination. Members cannot nominate themselves, and the award is not open to nominations from outside the department — including from family, friends or the public. The program overview below is the department’s working document, posted here so anyone reading can see how much a nomination has to carry.
The overview is a draft provided by the department and may be revised before the next nomination cycle opens.
Next presentation
Saturday, January 23, 2027
St. Petersburg Fire Rescue Annual Banquet · St. Pete Yacht Club
The three awards are established and funded by Karen and Jim Harte and need no outside support. Gifts in Rob’s name belong in the endowment at St. Petersburg College, where every dollar raises what the fund awards permanently.