Download the nomination form

Purpose

To recognize individuals or organizations outside the field of career and technical education for the highest meritorious contributions to the improvement, promotion, development and progress of career and technical education.

Criteria

Individuals or organizations considered for the Award of Merit must have demonstrated a concern for career and technical education through sponsored programs, publications, financial support and other activities. Nominees who have made contributions of national significance will be most highly rated. Except under unusual circumstances, no more than two such awards will be presented each year.

Eligibility

Business firms, industries, farm and home leaders, boards of education, boards of trustees, lay citizens groups, state or national committees and any other types of organizations that have contributed significantly to career and technical education are eligible recipients of this award.

Evaluation Criteria

The nominees will be evaluated on the following criteria:

1. Impact of contributions through sponsored programs. Evaluation based on a possible 25 points.
2. Impact of contributions through publications. Evaluation based on a possible 25 points.
3. Impact of contributions through financial support. Evaluation based on a possible 25 points.
4. Impact of contributions through other activities. Evaluation based on a possible 25 points.

Application Procedures

All nominations must come from ACTE members. Each nominee must be endorsed or sponsored by an association, agency, group, several individuals or a combination.

A nomination dossier must be developed for each nominee as follows:

1. Form A (Found in the Awards Booklet or on the Forms page)
2. Outstanding Accomplishments of the Nominee (Page 2): List the contributions and achievements of the nominee that have advanced career and technical education. List pertinent information that will clearly indicate the nominee's contributions beyond his or her job assignment. List in order of significance. Information should be brief, to the point and limited to one page.
3. Support information (Pages 3-6). This should be no more than one page in each of the four sections as follows:
   • Section A – Sponsored Programs.
   • Section B – Publications.
   • Section C – Financial Support.
   • Section D – Other Activities.
4. Letters of support, limited to a maximum of ten pages, (pages 7-16). Letters should be one page in length. Suggested endorsers might include: political leaders, professional association leaders, business and industrial leaders, educational leaders, civic leaders, parents and students.
5. One glossy photograph of the nominee. The photograph is used for publicity purposes only.

Applicants should submit information written in the 3rd person context rather than the 1st. Events should be dated and listed with the most recent submitted first. All materials must be word processed or typewritten on 8-1/2 X 11 sheets with 3/4" margins, left, right, top and bottom. Applicants are strongly encouraged to send the dossier electronically. All materials must be submitted at the same time as a complete package. No supplementary materials may be submitted; items not outlined above will be discarded before judging. All procedures must be followed for an application to be considered. Applications that do not follow these procedures will be rejected and returned.

Nominations can be submitted by:

Mail: Executive Director, Association for Career and Technical Education, 1410 King Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314.

Deadline

All nominations must be received at ACTE headquarters by May 5, 2008.