CHAPTER AND STUDENT CHAPTER OF THE YEAR AWARDS

Active and effective chapters and student chapters are needed to achieve The Wildlife Society’s goals, many of which are best addressed at the state/provincial or local level. Chapters and student chapters also strengthen the Society’s membership recruitment and retention efforts by providing opportunities for member involvement in Society activities. The Chapter and Student Chapter of the Year awards pay tribute to and recognize exceptional achievement.

The winning chapter and student chapter receive a special certificate at the Society’s annual conference award ceremony and their names are added to a permanent plaque on display at the Society’s headquarters. Student chapters also receive a $1,000 travel grant to send a student delegation to the annual conference.

NOMINATION PROCEDURE

Chapters and student chapters are invited to nominate themselves for the award.  Nominations provide information about chapters with respect to (1) promoting professional standards, (2) enhancing knowledge and technical capabilities, (3) encouraging professional stewardship of wildlife and TWS goals, (4) advocating sound basis for conservation policy decisions, (5) increasing awareness and appreciation for conservation and the wildlife profession, and (6) demonstrating financial stability and growth of the chapter.  

Recommendations and Hints for Preparing Nominations:

• For each response statement under each Goal, provide as concise and substantive information as possible.  Don’t be concerned about including something in all sections; it is understandable that all may not apply to every chapter.
• Ensure each response statement describes an outcome that is clearly related to that goal and is relevant to the mission and objectives of the Chapter.
• Ensure that you distinctly provide substantive information about the goal regarding financial stability and chapter growth/diversity; that is often short-changed in many nominations.
• Highlight key words or phrases that call attention to the most important aspects of each activity and/or accomplishment.
• Refrain from preparing lengthy text; focus on presenting statements about items that are most relevant and substantive about your Chapter.
• Provide clear quantification or dimension and relevance to your outcomes when and where possible.  Include quantification of outputs (numbers of people, events, etc.), but focus on describing and quantifying outcome(s) of the endeavor.
• EXAMPLE:  Classroom contacts with 46 students (ages X to Y) presented. Information and hands-on experiences about <subject X> during 4 sessions totaling 200 instruction hours by 14 Chapter members; student experiences were part of the Chapter’s key objective to do <brief statement about objective.
• If possible, provide a few illustrated examples of the most notable 3 to 5 accomplishments and outcomes for the Chapter during the year, emphasizing those that have cross-cutting value to Chapter mission and objectives.
• The resulting completed Nomination Form will be a brief but strong statement about your Chapter, will establish a more even surface for examining actions of multiple chapters, and will be readily reviewable by Committee members when performing their evaluation.

Nominations are encouraged from any interested chapter each year.  There is no restriction on the frequency of nominations. Nominations from previous chapter award winners will be considered in subsequent and sequential years.  There is no restriction regarding selection of the same chapter in a succeeding year; emphasis is placed on encouraging submission of highest quality nominations each year, regardless of chapter size, location, composition, or nature of activities.

State/Provincial Chapters should complete the Chapter of the Year Application Form Nominations will require that you uploaded a completed Chapter of the Year Application Form into the online nominations system no later than May 1 at 11:59 pm ET of the award year. PDFs of over 20 pages will NOT be accepted.

Student Chapters should complete the Student Chapter of the Year Form. Nominations will require that you uploaded a completed Student Chapter of the Year Form into the online nominations system no later than May 1 at 11:59 pm ET of the award year. PDFs of over 20 pages will NOT be accepted.

For questions related to TWS Awards please email, awards@wildlife.org.

CHAPTER AND STUDENT CHAPTER OF THE YEAR AWARDS RECIPIENTS