ACRL Awards Coordinating Committee

The Awards Coordinating Committee is tasked to:

• Work with ACRL staff to provide a standardized submission platform for nominations.

A portal for nominations is currently under development and will be fully implemented for the 2025-2026 awards cycle. 

The portal opens with a general submission page that collects basic information:

1. Nominee name and contact information.
2. Nominator name and contact information.

The portal will then branch to a tailored award-specific page:

1. Award name.
2. Contact information for committee chair.
3. Submission instructions and deadline.
4. Award-specific fields/questions, including options to upload documents (e.g., letters of support). 

As part of the Spring 2025 Review Process, award committees will provide the fields/questions that are needed for their award-specific portal page. 

In developing the questions for their award-specific portal page, award committees are encouraged to consider:

• Fewer fields = higher completion rates. Do you need that information at submission?
  • For example, at nomination is education required? If not, remove this question.
  • For example, at nomination is a full CV required? If yes, can it be uploaded as PDF instead of asking the nominator to enter the information in fields in the portal? 
• Make sure optional fields are clearly marked.
• Move from the easiest to the hardest questions.
• Determine whether letters of support and detailed descriptions can be uploaded as part of the form? (Upload preferred)
• State any preferences on file type for submissions - PDFs or Word Documents. (PDF is recommended)
• Provide recommended word counts for supporting letters or required descriptions. State any stylistic preferences (double spaced, specific fonts). 

Award committees are also reminded to comply with the ACRL Guide to Policies and Procedures, Chapter 12: Awards, including:

• Committees may not request photos of nominees as part of the nominations process.
• Committees that request letters of support as part of the nominations process must set a limit of no more than 3 letters.
• Membership in ACRL and/or its sections cannot be required in order to be nominated for or receive an award.
• All awards and grants should stipulate that self-nomination is possible.

Examples of online nominations forms used by award committees in previous years. Award committees may find these helpful for envisioning what their award-specific branch of the portal might look like, thinking about how to format questions, etc.