The Bloom Magazine Community Awards

When Bloom founder, Malcolm Abrams, launched Bloom Magazine in 2006, it had four missions: to support local businesses, to support local charities, to support the arts, and to support diversity. Today, these are still the missions. 

In 2019, Bloom launched the Bloom Magazine Community Awards to recognize worthy individuals’ contributions to these four missions. These awards are presented annually to those who have made outstanding contributions to the local business community, the arts, local charities, and diversity.

Each crystal pillar on the Bloom Community Award represents one of Bloom’s four missions.

To nominate an individual for Bloom’s 4th annual community awards, simply submit their name and contribution to one of the four missions:

Supporting local businesses

Supporting the arts

Supporting local charities

Supporting diversity

Include your name and contact information, and email [email protected]. Please mention “nominate” in the subject line. The deadline is November 1.

2022 Award Winners
(l-r) Lennie Busch and Jeff Mease; Michael Shermis; Elizabeth Mitchell, Danielle Bruce, and Gladys DeVane; and Dave Weber and Krista Detor. Photo by Lisa Spencer

Support of Local Charities winner:

Michael Shermis — Bloomington’s Special Projects Coordinator

Support of the Arts winners:

Krista Detor & Dave Weber — Producer’s of Krista Detor’s Holiday Show

Support of Local Businesses winners:

Jeff Mease & Lenne Busch —  Owners of One World Enterprises

Support of Diversity winners:

Elizabeth Mitchell, Gladys DeVane, and Danielle Bruce — Creators of the theater company Resilience Products

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2021 Award Winners
(l–r) Michael Cassady, Adria Nassim, Pat East, Audrey Heller, Sylvia McNair. Photo by Rodney Margison.

Support of Local Charities winner:

Sylvia McNair — Grammy Award-winning opera singer and humanitarian

Support of the Arts winner:

Audrey Heller — Producing artist director and co-founder of the Jewish Theatre of Bloomington

Support of Local Businesses winners:

Michael Cassady — Owner of The Uptown Cafe

Pat East — Tech entrepreneur and executive director of The Mill

Support of Diversity winner:

Adria Nassim — The Herald-Times columnist and disability advocate

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2019 Award Winners
(l-r) Beverly Calendar-Anderson, Talisha Coppock, Martha Moore, David Moore, Malcolm Abrams, Leslie Green, and Diane Legomsky. Photo by Haley Brown.

Support of Local Charities winner:

Leslie Green — CEO of Stone Belt

Support of the Arts winner:

Martha and David Moore — Far Center for Contemporary Arts

Support of Local Businesses winner:

Talisha Coppock — Executive director of Downtown Bloomington, Inc. and the Monroe Convention Center

Support of Diversity winners:

Diane Legomsky — Founder and chair of the Bloomington Refugee Support Network

Beverley Calender-Anderson — Director of the City of Bloomington Community and Family Department

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