The Awards Committee formally announces and calls for the first nominations for the new Qilak Award for Astronomy Outreach and Communication. This award was developed jointly and is sponsored by the RASC, the Canadian Astronomical Society and la Fédération des Astronomes Amateurs du Québec and results directly from the partnership formed for International Year of Astronomy. Each organization may select only one award recipient each year. The Qilak Award is intended to recognize individual Canadian residents, or teams of residents, who have made an outstanding contribution, during a particular time period, either to the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy in Canada, or to informal astronomy education in Canada, and to promote such activities among the members of the sponsoring organizations. The awards do not recognize achievement in formal astronomy education or achievement by a person or team of persons in the performance of their regular duties in their job or profession. To be eligible for the RASC-sponsored award, a nominee or a team of nominees must be an RASC member(s). Nominees must have made the contributions being recognized while working in Canada. Nominations are solicited from anyone familiar with, or knowledgeable of, the nominee's or nominees' achievements. A letter of nomination should highlight how the nominee or team of nominees have distinguished themselves in this endeavour and/or cite exceptional achievement. Nominations received but not awarded for the current year's competition will remain under consideration for the following year. For more details about the award and how to make a nomination, see rasc.ca/rasc-awards (click on Qilak Award in the menu). The deadline for nominations is 2011 December 31.