In celebration of its 150th birthday on November 22, 2008, the City and County of Denver has selected 150 of its citizens to honor as “unsung heroes” – ordinary people who have done extraordinary things to help make our City a better one for this and future generations. View the list of Denver's 150 People.

To find and honor 150 people who represent this ideal, the City published a call-for-nominations, looking for citizens who, through their work, passion, commitment or activism, are making Denver an even better place than it is now.  Until Oct. 1, nominations were accepted from all fields of interest such as business, the arts and community development; from all neighborhoods; and from all kinds of people, regardless of age, gender or race.

On Nov. 22, the actual anniversary date for the City’s 150th, the City will host a private reception at the Colorado History Museum honoring these unsung heroes, Denver’s 150.

The Rocky Mountain News will publish a special section featuring the 150 honorees on the weekend of Nov. 22. The names of all 150 honorees will not be made public until they appear in The Rocky Mountain News and are released to the public on the morning of Nov. 22. Their names will also appear on denver150.com.

The City received hundreds of nominations, and virtually every one of them was worthy of being honored A committee comprised of public and private officials from numerous City, civic and private organizations used our established criteria for their selection: The nominees had to be living, they had to reside or work within Denver, their work had to be transformational and they had to be an “unsung hero” – someone who has not been widely recognized or distinguished in the past. 

The committee strived to represent all parts of the City and to represent the broad diversity of the many aspects of City life.  Also, the committee felt compelled to exclude City and government employees, whose job it is to help make Denver great. They are all unsung heroes for all they do to make life better for everyone.

“What is the city but the people?” William Shakespeare wrote it; the City etched it into the Wellington Webb Building.  And never were their truer words for Denver’s 150 – people who are making Denver a great City today and for the next 150 years.