Tips on Completing Your Award/Scholarship Nominations

You know what's scary? Missing the nomination deadline. It's okay -- we still have time to put the finishing touches on those nominations. It is a mission of the Region 2 Awards and Scholarships program to increase representation of our members from all over the region. To do this, we need help from each and every one of you. I urge you to take this opportunity to submit at least one nomination for a colleague or a self-nomination. The Region 2 Awards and Scholarships are open for nominations now through 11:59 p.m. central time on Monday, November 1, 2021.

NEW! The Excellence in Advising Awards (Primary Role, Faculty Advisor, New Advisor, and Advising Administrator) will now provide the recipient with:

· A $600 Professional Development stipend for the purpose of funding the following:

o One-Year NACADA general membership

o Early region conference registration fee

o Remaining funds are provided to the recipient to be used towards travel, lodging, and/or other approved cost associated with attending the region conference.

Please review the scoring rubrics, which are available for each and every scholarship, on the Region 2 Awards & Scholarships Website. The website also includes additional information about each award and scholarship and instructions on how to submit a nomination.

Awards:

· Excellence Advising - New in Advisor Award

· Excellence in Advising - Primary Role Award

· Excellence in Advising - Faculty Advisor Award

· Excellence in Advising - Advising Administrator Award

· Region 2 Outstanding Advising Advocate Award

· Thomas J. Grites Service to Region 2 Award

· Region 2 Outstanding Contribution to Scholarship Award

Scholarships: *Must be a self-nomination, which can be supported by letter(s) of support.*

· Jeff Gardner Memorial Summer Institute Scholarship

· Region 2 Webinar Scholarship

· Region 2 Ambassador Scholarship

· Region 2 Research Institute Scholarship

 

The Region 2 Conference Graduate Student Scholarship is the only award/scholarship that is open beyond November 1^st, and instead self-nominations will be accepted now through 11:59 p.m. central time on Monday, January 31, 2022.

 

I hope that each of you has already been considering who you will be nominating this year and encourage you to also think about self-nominating!

To help you with this process, I have put together five tips for creating a strong nomination:

1. Include all documentation. 
For most awards and scholarships, only the nomination letter is required. However, you can and should include up to two letters of support, a resume or curriculum vitae, and a personal advising philosophy statement. Each piece of documentation provides a unique opportunity to showcase the nominee’s qualifications and can really help the evaluators to gain more insight into why the nominee deserves the specific award or scholarship. This additional support could be the reason a nominee is selected as a winner in comparison to a nomination lacking additional documentation. You are encouraged to work with the nominee to collect their most up-to-date resume or curriculum vitae and their personal advising philosophy statement as these documents may be strongest when created by the nominee. Be sure to check the scoring rubric for all required and optional documentation.

2. Be specific to the award or scholarship. 
Make sure to answer each question from the scoring rubric that corresponds to the specific award or scholarship to which you are nominating. These questions are exactly what the evaluators will be rating when reviewing nominations. For example, in the case of the Region 2 Webinar Scholarship, a nomination speaking to the caring and helpful nature of the nominee would not sufficiently meet the criteria for this scholarship. Instead, the nomination should demonstrate the nominee’s commitment to professional development, list the specific NACADA webinar they are seeking the scholarship for and how it will benefit them or list a specific topic they are seeking a webinar in, and speak to how they will organize for others to participate in the webinar. The recognition and opportunities for each award and scholarship greatly varies; therefore, so should the content of the nominations.

3. Provide quantitative and qualitative data. 
Data can provide strong evidence that a nominee meets the qualifications of an award or scholarship. Whenever possible, include quantitative data with numeric support and qualitative data through direct quotes. For example, in the case of the Region 2 Excellence in Advising - Primary Role Award, a strong nomination might state that the nominee has received a 96% rating for their advisees feeling “supported, listened to, and respected” on a self-reported survey and that one advisee stated “my advisor always makes me feel welcome and really takes the time to help me with my concerns while developing a plan I feel comfortable with moving forward”. This data provides a stronger foundation than simply stating that the nominee is supportive of students and makes them feel listened to and respected while developing their academic goals. Data can come from the larger division or institution, not just the nominee’s direct department, and you are encouraged to consider perspectives from various interaction points, such as students, colleagues, direct reports, supervisors, campus partners, etc.

4. Be clear and concise. 
Nomination letters, letters of support, and the personal advising philosophy statement should not exceed two pages, single spaced, and must be submitted in pdf format. This means you will want to be very selective in the information included so that you are clearly and concisely answering the scoring rubric questions and showcasing the nominee’s qualifications. You do have creative freedom in how you choose to format the documentation, so feel free to use paragraphs, bullet points, lists, etc. - whatever works best for you!

5. Make nominating a team effort. 
Building a strong nomination does not have to be overly time consuming! If there is someone you feel is deserving of an award or scholarship, I would suggest seeking others that may be supportive of this and are willing to contribute to the nomination. The main nominator can then develop a strong nomination letter using the collected numeric data and quotes and can allow others to supplement this through up to two letters of support. These letters of support can be from one direct source of a combination of voices, such as a letter written by one direct report or instead a letter written by multiple direct reports. Both examples can greatly supplement the nomination letter. Consider the strengths, resources, and availability of each individual involved so that as a team you can create an all-encompassing, strong nomination.

I hope that the scoring rubrics and these nomination tips help you in building your nominations and I look forward to answering any questions you may have! Please contact me at apple@udel.edu.

Thank you and we look forward to reviewing your nomination packet!

Michele Applegate

Region 2 Awards Chair