MARION COUNTY — Sgt. Kevin Cripps of the Marion County Sheriff’s Department was awarded Deputy of the Year by the Illinois Sheriff’s Association.

Cripps was nominated by Marion County Sheriff Rich Stevenson for his selfless act last September in rescuing five young people whose pickup was washed off into dangerous floodwaters southeast of Kinmundy.

The award was presented Monday night at the winter meeting of the Illinois Sheriff’s Association being held in East Peoria.