A colleague suggests nominating you for an award. You're grateful, but the request for a statement and supporting materials makes the task feel suddenly uncomfortable. How do you explain the work without turning every sentence into self-praise?
The handbook encourages faculty to consider appropriate institutional recognition. Start with the award's criteria and evidence of the contribution. You can make a clear case without claiming that recognition is guaranteed or necessary to validate the work.
Check the actual nomination route
Read eligibility, who may nominate, the review period, required materials, and deadlines. Verify whether self-nomination is allowed and which institutional level administers the award. Don't assume the process matches another award with a similar name.
Choose the contribution the award recognizes
A teaching, research, service, or career-stage award may call for a different account. Select the work relevant to the stated purpose. A complete career history can obscure the few contributions the committee needs to assess.
Explain the context and your own role, especially when the work was collaborative.
Pair the claim with support
Describe what you did and what evidence shows the result. Distinguish a completed activity from its demonstrated effects. A new resource is an output; documented use or other evidence may help explain its value.
Avoid replacing the explanation with adjectives such as exceptional or transformative.
Make the nominator's task manageable
If a colleague is willing to nominate you, provide the relevant criteria, current materials, and accurate background through the permitted process. Give reasonable notice. Their endorsement should remain their own assessment.
Don't assume a suggestion made in conversation includes agreement to complete the whole application.
Retain the record and keep the outcome in proportion
Save appropriate submission and award information. If selected, report the name, date, and purpose accurately. If not selected, examine any available feedback and decide whether another attempt makes sense.
Recognition is one way to acknowledge contribution, not the sole measure of it.
Pick the award you are considering and write one sentence for each criterion using a specific example. Where a sentence lacks evidence, clarify the claim before expanding the nomination narrative.
Adapted from The New Faculty Handbook by Zafer Unal, pp. 173-174.
