Following are a few hints to help you prepare your award nominations:

Be professional. Use the free program Adobe® Reader® or Adobe® Acrobat® to fill out the nomination forms electronically, or use a typewriter on a hard copy, rather than filling them in by hand. Proofread and spell-check your nomination forms and all supporting materials thoroughly. 

NOTE: Adobe Reader versions 7 or earlier do not allow you to save your entries. Versions 8 or later (available for free download) do allow you to save your entries. 

Get help from experts. Consider hiring a professional writer and/or proofreader to compose and edit your nomination documentation. Concise, well-written documents will go a long way in making sure your nominee stands out.

Follow the instructions! Make sure you have fulfilled all the nomination requirements. Each nomination requires a maximum of two pages explaining how the nominee meets the criteria. Not including this or leaving spaces blank reflects poorly on your nominee. Read sample criteria explanation.

Read the criteria carefully. Be aware of all the criteria required for the award, listed on the front of each nomination form.

Use the checklist on the back of each nomination form to ensure that you have included everything you need to include, such as region approval, criteria explanation and supporting documentation. Download checklist for Administrator of the Year award nominations.

Choose supporting materials wisely. You may attach two pages of supporting documentation (five for Robert E. Kelly) to each nomination form, such as letters of support or newspaper articles. If you feel that to do your nominee justice you must include an extra page or two, you can do so. However, only a reasonable number of pages of supplemental material will be submitted to the Awards Committee, so take the time to consider what will have the greatest impact.

Submit nominations on time. Nominations received by state ACSA after the deadline will not be considered eligible or submitted to the Awards Committee.

Generate continuity. Develop a binder or file for your region in order to store successful nomination forms from past years, list contacts, save tips and provide a record of consistency and success.

Have someone review every nomination one last time before you submit to state ACSA. Imagine you are reading as many as 450 nomination forms – what makes your nominee(s) stand out? Does the nomination fully convey how outstanding they are?

Follow up. Make sure your nomination forms have been received on time and by the correct person. Send nominations via Fed Ex/UPS or registered mail and track the delivery, or request that the region awards contact or state awards committee liaison call or email to confirm that they received your nomination(s) by the deadline.

Pitfalls to avoid:

• Handwritten nomination forms
• Submitting documents with spelling or grammatical errors
• Including too many pages of supplemental documents
• Including documents that do not clearly communicate a nominee’s excellence
• Nominating non-ACSA members for awards requiring membership for eligibility
• Omitting the required one to two pages of text explaining how the nominee meets the criteria
• Nominating current ACSA Board members
• Missing your region's deadline or the state ACSA deadline
• Submitting nominations that have not been signed by a region president or designee
• Sending the completed nomination forms to an old or incorrect contact at ACSA – the correct address is on the awards program homepage 
   

If you have questions, read the frequently asked questions or email the Awards Committee executive.