Nominations for the 2021 Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNL) Achievement Awards are now underway. This program honors and recognizes staff members for outstanding contributions to the FNL mission over the past year. Nominations will be accepted through March 13.
This is an entirely peer-nominated awards program, and all employees are encouraged to nominate their colleagues. While only FNL employees may be nominated, nominations are accepted and encouraged from FNL employees and their government colleagues.
“Many of our colleagues deserve our acclaim,” said Ethan Dmitrovsky, M.D., president of Leidos Biomedical Research and director of FNL. “But unless you nominate them, their efforts may go unrecognized. Kindly nominate them so that we can thank them for all that they have done.”
Writing a Strong Nomination
With Dr. Dmitrovsky’s call to action in mind, you may be wondering how to nominate your dedicated colleagues. This task may seem daunting, but the process is straightforward and only requires writing a 100–300 word nomination.
Here are six tips to help you craft a strong nomination:
- Read the award descriptions and select the appropriate award category.
- Not sure which category to choose? You can nominate someone for more than one award. Just make to sure to submit two separate nominations.
- Give specific examples.
- Don’t just say that the nominees are outstanding—show it! Using a list is an effective way to provide examples.
- Describe what they did and the impact of that work.
- Make sure to demonstrate how they have gone beyond their job description.
- Say it simply.
- An easy-to-read nomination is a strong nomination.
- Don’t repeat.
- You only have 300 words, so avoid repetition.
- Review your draft.
- Nominations are not scored for literary merit, but check for typos and errors that may confuse or distract reviewers.
- Verify that the nomination makes sense to someone who does not know the nominees or their work.
- Start early.
- Nominations are due March 13, but don’t wait until the last minute to nominate someone and risk missing the deadline.
Read all the award categories and nominate your colleagues here: https://ncifrederick.cancer.gov/Science/AchievementAwards
Editor’s note: Archived photos were captured prior to the pandemic and social distancing.
Victoria Brun is a partnership project manager in the Frederick National Laboratory Partnership Development Office, where she provides project management support across the office’s broad portfolio of collaborative projects. The Partnership Development Office establishes the partnerships and collaborations among Frederick National Laboratory scientists and external researchers in government, academia, industry, and the nonprofit research sector.