Artists: Submit your Mike Sells Labor Champion trophy design

EVERETT (June 7, 2022) — The Snohomish & Island County Labor Council is launching a design competition for Washington artists to submit designs for a trophy to be awarded to a deserving recipient at the inaugural Mike Sells Labor Champion Award ceremony to be held in October 2022.

“This trophy is meant to represent the dedication to Washington’s working families and a lifetime of public service as exemplified by the distinguished career of Rep. Mike Sells,” said Dan Murphy, Vice President of the council. “Following his retirement this year, we established the award to honor community leaders who’ve followed in Mike’s footsteps as champions of organized labor and public service.”

The idea behind creating a unique trophy is that it will be presented to a community leader each year, Murphy said, but brought back the following year to be presented to the next year’s winner. “It’s like the Stanley Cup that’s awarded to the National Hockey League champion,” he said. “The winner displays the trophy for a year, then brings it back to present it to the following year’s winner.”

Here’s how the design competition will work:

●  DETAILS — The goal is to design a “Labor Champion” trophy to be mounted on a custom pedestal.

●  SPECIFICATIONS — Designs must be sketched in detail, with notes on materials to be used.

●  DEADLINE — All submissions are due on or before July 15, 2022, emailed to info@snolabor.org.

The winning design will be chosen by a select committee including members from the arts community, the political world and a representative from organized labor. The artist(s) submitting the winning design will have the option to create the actual sculpture or casting and/or supervise its production.

“We anticipate a design that will capture the spirit of Rep. Sells,” Murphy said, “someone whose career was dedicated to lifting up Washington’s working families and giving of his talents to make life better for everyone in our communities here in Western Washington.”

Get more information about the Mike Sells Labor Champion Award or contact Dan Murphy, SICLC Vice President, at 425-777-6438 if you have additional questions.

Mike Sells is a graduate of Central Washington University and worked for more than 30 years as a teacher in the Everett School District. From 1976 to 2014, he served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Snohomish County Labor Council. In 2004, he was elected to the Washington House of Representatives from the 38th Legislative District, where he helped create the Washington Aerospace Training and Research Center at Paine Field and brought a Bachelor of Science nursing program to the EvCC University Center and WSU-Everett.

► From the (Everett) Herald on Feb. 2, 2022 — It’s time: Rep. Mike Sells says he won’t seek re-election — Rep. Mike Sells (D-Everett), a lawmaker whose roots in public education and the labor movement powered him to become an influential voice for both, will not seek re-election this year. Sells, 76, who is in his ninth term representing the 38th LD, was instrumental in cementing WSU’s presence in Everett, launching a nursing degree program at UW Bothell and strengthening workplace protections and collective bargaining rights across the state. He made the announcement at a Washington State Labor Council conference last week, saying:

“I will not be seeking another term. I wanted to announce here because this is my home to a certain extent. I am getting old and it is time I think for me to retire. I am confident that we have the people who can carry the torch.”

The Snohomish & Island County Labor Council is an AFL-CIO-affiliated federation of 64 public- and private-sector unions representing 42,000 working families. The council is dedicated to ensuring fair wages and benefits for all workers and striving to ensure economic justice and workplace safety. Learn more at the council’s website.