Committee on Honors Frequently Asked Questions

Who: The ASHA Honors Committee is the group that is authorized by a series of resolutions, to administer the nominations and selection of awards from the association. The Honors Committee is a group of nine ASHA members who must be ASHA Fellows. Members are elected by the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Advisory Councils, but potential committee members do not have to be members of these advisory councils to run for the Honors Committee. Anyone who is an ASHA Fellow can self-nominate as advertised on this Web site and in written communications (such as The ASHA Leader). After serving a term on this committee, members cannot run for reelection for three years.

How: Each winter a call for nominations comes out on the ASHA Web site, in The ASHA Leader, and through Special Interest Division communications. There are three different types of ASHA awards: Honors of the Association, Fellow and other awards of the Association and awards from the ASHA Foundation. Members are encouraged to read the guidelines for each of the ASHA awards, posted on this site. For some of the awards, the nominator must have special qualifications and the committee is not allowed to review the packet if those are not met. For all of the awards the nominee must meet certain guidelines, as described in the Call for Nominations.

The ASHA National Office staff receive the nomination packets in the spring and review them for the administrative details (that nominees and nominators are ASHA members, that nominators meet the guidelines as appropriate, etc.) and then the packets are sent to each of the members of the committee. The committee members have several weeks to read all of the material. Along with the nomination packets, they are sent review guidelines and rating sheets to list and analyze the documentation sent in by nominators.

The committee members meet, face-to-face, in late May or early June for two days to go over the committee process, review each nomination packet and discuss the quality of the documentation and how well it meets the guidelines in the Call for Nominations. After discussion and deliberation, awardees are selected, the committee makes recommendations for publicizing the awardees and recognizing them in our publications, on this site and at convention. The committee evaluates the process after convention.

During the fall members elect a new committee chair from one of the three rising third-year members of the committee and s/he begins work as chair on January 1 of the following year. During the time between the November convention and the spring reading of materials, committee members communicate by conference call and a group email list to make recommendations for change and improvement. All substantive policy and procedure related to the committee, as well as the requirement for confidentiality, is determined by vote of the ASHA Board of Directors.

How should I organize my nomination packet?

 The best nomination packets use the organization called for in the Call for Nominations. The Call for Nominations comes out each winter after ASHA convention and are due in the early spring. Example: If you are nominating someone for ASHA Fellow in the three categories of teaching, clinical service and administration, use those three areas as headings in your nomination, providing documentation in each category.

What is meant by "documentation?"

Lack of documentation is probably the most frequent reason that the Committee on Honors does not act favorably upon a nomination. Documentation is evidence that someone is truly outstanding in a particular area, not just performing the regular duties of his or her job. Example: If you nominate someone in the area of "teaching," (if that is appropriate to the award) include summary results of past teaching evaluations, workshop evaluations or comments, peer review, list of teaching awards, etc. The same is true of clinical service. If that is a category you have chosen, list special programs the nominee has created, client letters of support, clinical achievement awards they have won, clinical grants or funds they have raised, etc. Just writing that the nominee is outstanding is not enough. Having a well known person nominate someone is not enough. There must be documentation that the nominee's performance has been beyond the regular duties expected of a good employee.

What are some items found in nomination packets which are not effective or which could be improved?

Some common mistakes made by nominators include:

• Not providing documentation for award categories. 
• Exceeding the page limit of nominations. ASHA Staff are required by Committee guidelines to remove any pages beyond the limit and since 2001 to tell the Committee members that they did so.
• Poor nomination organization. It is recommended that the nominator not force the committee to find the important parts of the nomination. Use headings and subheadings to organize the nomination materials, using the Call for Nominations information and guidelines organization as a guideline. If a vitae or resume format is used, mark the sections on the vitae related to the sections in the guidelines for that award. The Committee is aware that some activities of a nominee could fit into more than one category; the nominator should decide where to use that information (publication, presentation, clinical activity, etc.).
• Failing to describe the outstanding work of the nominee and the importance to the professions, and instead assuming that the Committee on Honors will be familiar with the individual's work. The committee is instructed to make its decision on information provided on the application, and not information a member of the Committee may have from another context. This instruction is designed to make sure that all nominees are considered equally by all members of the committee: those who do and do not know the nominee. All Committee members are ASHA Fellows, but may not be as familiar with the work of someone outside of their area of expertise.
• Organizing and assembling the nomination materials at the last minute, resulting in missing parts, duplication of parts, or obvious evidence that the primary and secondary nominators have not communicated well on "who does what." The nomination materials appear much more organized if the primary nominator takes responsibility for organization and does this well in advance of the deadline.

In the Fellows nomination, why do two of the three nominators have to be ASHA members who have not worked with the nominee in the past 10 years and why do they have to be Fellows?

This requirement was set by a LC resolution. The discussion at the time was that the nominee deserving of Fellow should be known or supported by ASHA members outside of the work setting. The award of Fellow is for someone in the professions who has achieved beyond the local work setting and has made a contribution statewide, nationally or internationally. It is thought that an ASHA Fellow, someone who has already been recognized beyond the local level, would recognize these qualities in another professional.

How do I document that a nominee for Honors is well known, deserving, etc.? It seems difficult to do.

Yes, the Committee recognizes that this is difficult to do and we appreciate those ASHA members who take the time to complete a nomination for Honors. There are many ways to do this. Some successful nomination materials in the past have included very good documentation compiled in a very organized fashion. Successful nominators in the past have often gathered statements from other ASHA members who know the work of the nominee. These statements have been put together, along with other documentation, to provide evidence of the effect this individual has had on the professions. In some cases, when the individual has made a contribution within and beyond our professions, the nominator has documentation and statements from national and international leaders in other professions.

How do I organize the information for the "brief vitae?"

The Committee recognizes that every nominee for almost any of the awards has much more lengthy vitae for other purposes. But for the ASHA or ASHA Foundation nomination materials we are requesting that the nominator organize the important parts of the vitae to fit in the categories that the nominator has chosen. Many successful nomination packets insert headings within a brief vitae to match the categories of the nomination. Again, some of the activities on the vitae of a nominee could fit in several different categories, but the nominator must decide where and organize accordingly.

Why are some awards not given some years?

In some years, there may be no nominees for a particular award, or no nominees that the committee decides meets the criteria for an award, or rises to the level to be selected.