Learn how to write a winning nomination from those who have done it on Thursday, April 30 at noon.
Add the session to your calendar.
Writing a winning nomination for the Director’s Awards takes some time, but the result could mean up to $5,000 for your nominee. And a tremendous thank you for you.
Last year, Alex Lekov wrote up a nomination for Nihar Shah in the Societal Impact category, one of the ten Director’s Award nomination areas. Alex briefly described the global impact of Nihar’s work, which included the addition of an amendment to the Montreal Protocol that governs energy efficiency. Although the nomination has the technical information to support the honor, Alex summed up Nihar’s achievement in clear, understandable language as “building a bridge between science and policy to solve one of the world’s most pressing problems: global warming.”
The nomination went on to explain Nihar helped to change the course of global environmental policy while advancing the Lab’s mission. Alex demonstrated the significant impact of Nihar’s research and scientific talks in worldwide fora such as the UN Environment Program. His letters of support offered further testimonials of Nihar’s expertise and influence and conveyed further insights into his groundbreaking research. The Labwide Recognition Committee agreed that it was a compelling nomination, and recommended Nihar for a Director’s Award for Exceptional Achievement in the category of Societal Impact.
The Director’s Awards has ten areas of recognition:
- Berkeley Lab Citation
- Diversity
- Early Scientific Career
- Operations
- Outreach
- Safety
- Scientific
- Service
- Societal Impact
- Technology Transfer
Go here for a full description of these categories.
Writing Tip #1: Keep It Simple. Take a piece of paper and write down the answers to a few simple questions:
- How would you describe the achievement?
- Why should it be considered exceptional?
- How did this achievement contribute to specific research, field(s), the Lab’s mission?