Q: I was disappointed my nominee did not win this year, given the limited amount of information that can be conveyed through the nomination letters of support, I fear we are not emphasizing the right items, despite our efforts to directly address each of the award criteria. What does it take to win?
A: Here is how our process works:
To help the nominators/letter writers we ask that everyone address the criteria as outlined at: http://recognition.arizona.edu/award-excellence.
The judges are then asked to evaluate each of the four criteria with a points scale (1 to 9) as shown below and some brief comments on their assessment:
9 Outstanding
5 Above average
1 Average – meets normal job expectations
We have refined the scale over the years to really pick up the nuances as far as possible. Once the judges have submitted the ratings I use z-scores to account for the individual style of each judge’s rating. Mathematically we have a sound process. Of course the judges are still human.
I have seen that nomination letters that address all four criteria with relevant examples are the most successful ones, because the judges can see real evidence and can defend their decisions. I also try hard to assign judges who don’t know the nominee (at least don’t work with them) and I ask that judges exclude themselves from rating a nominee if they feel they cannot be objective to avoid any bias (good or bad) as much as possible.
I realize that the quality of the letters can affect the ratings. Nominees are only represented by the letters and that is all we can use in the evaluation process. Of course no process is flawless though we do continue to refine our process and stress a nominees best letters are submitted.
The UA Excellence Award ceremony, which unfortunately was cancelled this year due to the covid closure, is an occasion to celebrate our outstanding nominees and winners with their coworkers and families. Each year I am impressed by the number of great employees nominated and to read how they all excel and go way above their normal job duties. I have also seen that, in general, nominees are very happy to be recognized by their nominators and supporters and are honored to be recognized.
Q: We nominated a coworker for one of these awards and were wondering what will happen with campus being closed for the coronavirus?
A: The ERC have been in discussion and may likely reschedule our announcements and ceremony so as to give our winners the full experience of winning their award. Once things get back to normal we will announce the winners and the rescheduled date of the ceremony. Be safe and be well. Thanks for your patience!
Q: We nominated someone in our office for an award and read that winners would be notified in March. If our nominee is not a winner will we still be notified?
A: Yes, once all winners have been notified then nominees and nominators will also be notified and invited to the award ceremony to receive recognition, because it really is an honor to have been nominated for these awards.
Q: In addition to the three letters of support for the Excellence Award that I submitted online, here’s a fourth since the online application only appeared to accept three letters for this particular award.
A: Unfortunately we can’t accept more letters of support than there are slots. Please let me know which of the letters you want to submit.
Q: I am submitting an award nomination for someone in our department I have received the letters of support that are required. Do I myself have to write a letter as well or simply submit the nomination with the letters I received?
A: The submitter does not have to provide a letter themselves. Of course any glowing support letter will help the judges to make a decision, but you personally don’t need to provide one.
Q: I am submitting a nomination today, Feb 9th, but have seen two deadline times...3pm and 5pm. Which is correct?
A: 5pm
Q: I’ve started an application nominating for the UA Individual Award for Excellence. I’m not clear on what to put in the “Comments to Competition Coordinators” section. I assume it is not my nomination letter, and my letter would be considered “Letter of Recommendation #1”.
A: That field only needs to be filled if there is some piece of special information that you want to pass along regarding the whole package. It is not a mandatory field.
Q: I will be submitting a nomination for the Department Award for Excellence. One of the online form sections is “*Department Members: Name, Title, Classificiation (CS, AP, F, S).” I am assuming CS is classified staff, AP is appointed professional, and F is faculty. Does S represent students?
A: Yes
Q: I would like to know if the Teams to be nominated can include more than one department/unit? That is, teams consisting of 2 or more members, and from two different units.
A: Yes, nominations of Teams can indeed have members from multiple departments.
Q: I was working on a Team nomination form today in Competition Space and it asked for the following: “*Team Nomination- Upload a PDF of the Team Nomination here” in addition to the 3 letters of recommendation. Can you please tell me what this document is supposed to contain?
A: We are looking for one team nomination, i.e. somebody who describes what the team is doing and has achieved that worthy of an award. This can be done by the team lead or a sponsor. Then there are up to three slots for letter s of support from people not on the team.
Q: Do we write the letter/nomination with the intent to try and answer these prompts (noted on the nomination website)?
The application for nominating a team will request the following information.
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Identify how the project/work supported the mission of your unit, department, or the UA
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Define the project/work, its timeline and identify its goals/objectives
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Define the steps taken to reach goals or milestones
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Explain the group’s dynamics
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Examples: how did the team communicate internally, make decisions, assign tasks, distribute workload, interact with management, handle conflict, etc.
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Describe how the team measured progress
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Describe the results of the team’s efforts, clearly detailing the achievements of the team that exceeded the stated goals/objectives
A: Yes, the more complete you answer these questions the more points the judges will award you. If there is a point you can’t talk to then don’t mention it.
Q: I want to make sure it is ok for me to do a nominee submission. I supervised and was a colleague of the nominee, but have retired; Am I still eligible as a retiree to submit the nomination?
A: Yes, certainly you can still submit the nomination. If for some reason the system does not allow you to do so, it is only a technicality. In that case please send us the electronic letters and information and we will upload it for you.
Q: I was submitting our nomination this morning and the submission site wouldn’t accept it. That’s when I saw on the “UA Competition Space” that it says 3 letters are needed?
A: Yes, a minimum of 3 letters of support are required, (a minimum 5 letters required for the Billy Joe Varney Award)
Q: Does the person we are nominating need to demonstrate excellence in each criteria or 2 out of 3 or really just as many as possible? We believe this person meets 3 out of the 4 criteria shown, but we were unsure if it had to be all 4.
A: No, a person does not need to show excellence in all areas. However, it will make them more competitive if they are. I would address as much as you can as judges are instructed to look for evidence for the criteria. If somebody might not excel, but is a good performer in a certain area, I would definitely highlight that too.