Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Nancy Collins, a Mississippi woman who established a rural hospice offering physical and religious care to the terminally ill, were among more than a dozen recipients Tuesday of the Jefferson Awards, given for national and local public service.

Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, was honored for "thoughtful, principled and effective service" including helping to create the Department of Homeland Security following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as well as working for campaign finance reform.

Collins of Tupelo, Miss., was selected for her establishment of Sanctuary Hospice House, a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian facility modeled after a hospice Collins visited in Mexico City. The hospice has taken in more than 550 people.

The Jefferson Awards were founded in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Sen. Robert Taft Jr. (grandson of President William Howard Taft) and presidential economic adviser Sam Beard. Designed to be a Nobel Prize for public and community service, the awards spotlight national leaders and volunteers at the local level.

Other winners during Tuesday's celebration dinner at Washington's Union Station:

_Public service by a private citizen: Retired District of Columbia police detective Edward Michael Jagen, creator of the Good Knight Child Empowerment Network, which provides training to children on fending off abuse and sexual advances from adults.

_Public service benefiting the disadvantaged: Darell Hammond, leader of KaBOOM! Working with communities and corporate volunteers, Hammond helps bring playgrounds and skate parks to underprivileged areas across the country. Since his organization was founded in 1995 more than 2,000 recreation centers have been built and renovated.

_Public service by individual 35 and under: Ocean Robbins, founder in 1990 at age 16 of Youth for Environmental Sanity, committed to social and environmental change. Robbins, who lives in northern California, also sponsors camps for young activists and has spoken to thousands of high school and college students.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Recipients (nominated through local media outlets):

_Lia Rowley, creator of Children's Village, a nonprofit organization in Santa Rosa, Calif., that provides housing to children needing long-term foster care, with an emphasis on keeping siblings together.

_Hank and Debbie Perret, operators of the Miles Perret Foundation in Lafayette, La., which offers counseling and financial support to cancer patients and their families.

_Jackie Betz, Erin Drischler and Megan Neuf, seniors at Shaler Area High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., who obtained a county grant to educate young women on the high rate of sexual assaults against female freshmen college students.

_Harry Vogler of Colorado, who has raised more than $60,000 to help fund the Emily Griffith Center, a 100-acre ranch that provides treatment and education services to severely abused, neglected and mentally ill children and their families.

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On the Net:

The Jefferson Awards: http://www.jeffersonawards.org