TORONTO — Do we know how to pick’em or what?

We’re talking about highwaySTARS of the year. That’s the annual truck-driving award presented by Newcom Business Media, which publishes this website as well as Today’s Trucking and highwaySTAR magazines.

The winners are chosen by a team of editors based on submissions from truckers, owners and family members and every once in a while, the editors get reminded of what great folks our past winners are.

A mere four days before the deadline for this year’s contest, (It’s this Saturday, Mar.1,) we received word that one of our previous winners has just been recognized by the Alexandria, Va.,-based Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) as a Highway Angel for a random act of kindness that he committed a few months back in Maine.

Terrance Smith, a Highland Transport driver based out of Miramichi, N.B., stopped and helped an elderly woman find her way home.

Smith was parked in a Dysart’s truck stop at approximately 10:00 p.m. when he noticed an elderly woman trying to flag down traffic. He thought that the woman might get hit by a car, so he turned on his flashers and raced across the street to help her. The elderly woman told him: “My name is Joyce; I am lost and very scared. My husband told me that if I were ever in trouble, I should ask the driver of those big trucks for help.”

Joyce had been following behind her husband’s car when her windshield fogged up. She immediately pulled over to the side of the road, but her husband continued driving. Joyce did not know where she was and seemed afraid for her safety. Smith stayed with Joyce and kept her calm until her husband arrived.

For his efforts, Smith got a Highway Angel lapel pin, certificate, and patch. Highland Transport also received a certificate acknowledging that one of its contractors is a Highway Angel.

Smith was named Canada’s highwaySTAR of the year in 2006.

If you think you know somebody who’s got the stuff of a highwaySTAR, you have to act now. A highwaySTAR is, quite simply, an extraordinary driver. A driver who’s great behind the wheel and a stellar citizen when he or she’s back home.

Fortunately, this contest might be one of the world’s easiest and least expensive to enter. Check out a recent print issue of Today’s Trucking or highwaySTAR to find out how to nominate a trucker or dash off a quick letter to our editors at editors@todaystrucking.com . Tell them why you think your nominee is such an outstanding driver/citizen.

The prizes are terrific.

The winner receives fabulous prizes, courtesy of Newcom, Freightliner, Caterpillar, Espar, ArvinMeritor, Michelin, OBAC, SelecTrucks and Chevron.
The loot includes $10,000 in cash; an Espar heating system; a road-ready trucker friendly laptop, a special-edition leather highwaySTAR jacket with the winner’s name on it, and travel and accommodation for two to Toronto for the Truck World 2008, in April.

Furthermore, if you nominate the winner, you win $250 in cash.