Submission Instructions

Important Dates for the 2024 Awards: 

• Nominations Open: Monday, March 11
• Nominations Close: Friday, April 12
• Selected Applicants Invited to Submit Full Packet: Tuesday, April 30
• Deadline for Full Packet Submissions: Wednesday, May 29

Preparing to Submit a Nomination

• Review the complete description for the specific award and the below advice for nominators. 
• Complete the nomination letter of interest ONLY (Part A) for the specific award(s). The Awards Working Group will review submitted nomination letters of interest and will invite selected nominations to submit full packets.
• If invited to submit a full packet, compile the required submission materials described below (Part B) either electronically or in hardcopy and submit to AEA by the deadline. 

Nomination Letter of Interest (Part A)

Before being invited to submit a full packet by the Awards Working Group, you are required to submit a nomination letter of interest for the nominee. The following must accompany this submission:

• Nominee Information: Name, Title, Affiliation (Primary place of work or study), Email, Phone
• Nominator Information (If different from the nominee): Name, Title, Affiliation (Primary place of work or study), Email, Phone
• Nomination Letter of Interest of no more than 500 words attesting to the nominee's qualifications, contributions to the field of evaluation/the association, and award worthiness.

Letters of interest can be submitted here.

Required Nomination Packet Materials (Part B)

Submitters invited to submit full packets for consideration will be asked to submit the following: 

• Nomination Form: Coversheets will be made available once invitations have been extended to nominees/nominators to submit full awards packets. The completed nomination form acts as a cover page for the nomination packet as well as an inventory of the nomination materials being submitted. Only those materials listed on the nomination form will be considered as part of the nomination packet.
• Nomination Justification: A statement from either the nominee or nominator of at least two pages and no more than five pages justifying the award nomination. This should illustrate the nominee’s consistent utilization of the AEA Guiding Principles for Evaluators, AEA Evaluator Competencies, AEA Cultural Competence Statement, and the Program Evaluation Standards.
• Letters of Support: At least two and no more than three statements from colleagues of no more than two pages each focusing on the criteria for the award in support of the nomination.
• Supporting Documentation:
  • A vita or resume (maximum of 10 pages).
  • Up to three publications and reports. The Working Group asks that nominators balance quality and brevity when considering documents for submission. Please select publications and reports that demonstrate the quality of the nominee and avoid submitting documents that duplicate the contribution of other documents. Publications and reports provided should illustrate the nominee’s consistent utilization of the AEA Guiding Principles for Evaluators, AEA Evaluator Competencies, AEA Cultural Competence Statement, and the Program Evaluation Standards.

Submission Format

You have two options for submitting your nomination packet.

A. Email/Electronic Nomination Submissions

1. All documentation must be combined into a single electronic file and sent as a single email attachment, in the order specified on and beginning with the Nomination form to awards@eval.org.
2. The electronic versions of all the required materials should be compiled into one Word or PDF file and sent as an email attachment. Please do NOT send an email with multiple attachments.
3. Each item in the nomination packet should clearly identify the nominee and the award for which he/she/they are being nominated.
4. Letters of recommendation that must remain confidential can be sent electronically to the AEA office at awards@eval.org separately from the nomination packet, but must be properly noted on the nomination form, and sent electronically to arrive in the office by the deadline.
5. Nomination materials that are not included in the electronic nomination packet or that arrive in the AEA office after the submission deadline will not be considered.

B. Hardcopy Submissions*

1. The Nominator must compile all nomination materials into a hardcopy packet in the order specified on and beginning with the Nomination form and then make nine copies of the hardcopy packet to send to the AEA office. Please mail the nine copies of your nomination packet to:

American Evaluation Association
2001 K Street NW, 3rd Floor North
Washington, D.C. 20006

2. Each item in the nomination packet should clearly identify the nominee and the award for which they are being nominated.
3. Letters of recommendation that must remain confidential can be sent to the AEA office separately from the hardcopy nomination packet, but must be properly noted on the nomination form, and sent to arrive in the office by the deadline.
4. Nomination materials that are not included in the hardcopy nomination packet or that arrive in the AEA office after the submission deadline will not be considered.

* Please use this option only if electronic submission is not an option due to particular parts of your nomination being only available in hardcopy format, such as the need to include a book or report. Do not send both electronic and hardcopy.

Congratulations! You are ready to submit your nomination packet!

The Chair of the Awards Working Group will notify the primary nominator if their nominee was selected or not.  It is the responsibility of the nominator to notify the nominee of the outcome of their application.

Advice for Nominators

To assist nominators, we have provided guidelines for developing a nomination packet, details on the required materials for each award, and a checklist to guide you through the submission process.

Tips for a strong nomination packet:

• Think carefully about the nomination justification statement and make sure that it presents clearly and specifically what the candidate is being nominated for and what he/she has accomplished that is outstanding.
• Choose supporting materials with care so that those materials are directly relevant to the contributions for which the candidate is being nominated.
• Emphasize the quality and aptness of the nomination materials and their implicit illustration of the award criteria.
• Look at the list of previous award winners for some idea about the kinds of persons who win the award for which you wish to make a nomination.
• Solicit required letters of support from persons who are relatively senior and well known in the association and the profession.
• Provide individuals offering to write letters in support of your candidate with a copy of the nomination justification statement and the award description to help them frame their letters.
• Remember that the awards process is necessarily competitive, and your candidate however worthy, may not win. Please consider nominating that person the following year if you remain persuaded of the candidate’s worthiness and potential to win the award.

Questions?

For questions regarding award criteria or nomination requirements, please contact the Awards Working Group Co-Chairs Eric Barela at barelaem@gmail.com and Rhonda Williams at rlwilliams@gsnetx.org. 

For questions regarding the submission of your nomination packet or if you encounter technical problems with this website, please contact the AEA office via awards@eval.org.