Two Lanier Technical College students from Dawsonville have been nominated for a state awards program.

Instructors at the technical college nominated a total of 18 students from its campuses for the Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership, or GOAL, competition.

GOAL is a statewide program of the Technical College System of Georgia that honors excellence in academics and leadership among students.

GOAL winners are selected at each of the state's 25 technical colleges and one Board of Regents college with a technical education division.

Jennifer Pulliam, coordinator of Lanier Tech's GOAL program, said in a statement that the purpose of the program is to "spotlight the outstanding achievement by students in Georgia's technical colleges and to emphasize the importance of technical education in today's global work force."

The Dawsonville students nominated and their areas of study include: Nicki Smith, clinical lab technology at the Oakwood campus and Laura James, horticulture at the Forsyth campus.

A screening committee of administrators at Lanier Tech will review each of the nominations, then conduct personal interviews with the students.

After the nominees have been ranked, four finalists will be selected to compete for the 2013 GOAL winner for the school.

They will then go through another round of interviews and evaluations by a selection committee of representatives from local business and industry.

The committee will consider qualities such as academic achievement, personal character, leadership abilities and enthusiasm for technical education.

The student judged most outstanding will be designated the GOAL winner and advance to regional competition.

Three students from each of the state's three regions will then compete for the title of state GOAL winner.

That student will travel the state as an ambassador for the technical college system. To make that travel easier, the winner also receives a new vehicle from Chevrolet.