General Procedures

The awards, honors, and scholarship programs offered by ESA and the Entomological Foundation are administered by the headquarters of each office under the guidance of the ESA Governing Board and Foundation Board of Directors, and with assistance by the ESA Standing Committees on Awards, Education, Fellows, Honorary Membership, and various judging panels.

Nomination/Application Procedures

Nominations or applications for most ESA and Foundation awards and scholarships may be submitted by anyone. However, there are some exceptions: Only nominations from ESA Branches are accepted for the ESA Distinguished Achievement Awards in Extension, Regulatory Entomology, and Teaching, and for the Foundation's Award for Excellence in IPM. Each Branch is limited to one new nomination per year. However, certain Branch renominations will be accepted; please see each award's individual web page for details. Members who have selected "foreign" as their branch must contact one of the five Branches directly to request a nomination for this award. Also, for ESA's John Henry Comstock Graduate Student Awards, each Branch has its own selection criteria for these awards; such criteria and instructions are available from the respective Branch Secretary-Treasurer. In general, each Branch may establish a canvassing committee which solicits and, in some instances, acts as a screening committee for selecting nominations.

Renominations/Reapplications

Any candidate nominated, but not selected, may be renominated no more than two times within the two-year period after his/her initial submission. Nomination packages will be retained for two years by both ESA and Foundation headquarters. Nominators must send a letter of renomination by the nomination deadline to awards@entsoc.org for ESA awards and melodie@entfdn.org for Foundation awards. Previously submitted documentation will be used for the evaluation process unless the nominator submits new or updated documents. The renomination e-mail must contain this additional documentation. New or updated documents must follow the electronic submission requirements.

Judging Panels

After nominations and applications are submitted, they are released to judges, volunteer ESA members, who evaluate the packages and select the winners. For most each ESA and Foundation awards, the Standing Committee on Awards selects judging panels, who make the final determinations on awards. For procedural details on ESA Honorary Membership and Fellows, please see the ESA Bylaws.

Process Coaches

Each member of the ESA Committee on Awards is assigned to an ESA and/or Foundation judging panel as its process coach to maintain communication with panel chairs to make sure the judging process is proceeding in a timely fashion. They provide panel chairs with guidance regarding conflicts of interest if needed, locate replacement judges when required, and serve as liaison to the standing committee.

Awards Administrators

ESA and the Foundation each have an awards administrator on their staffs, who serve as the main contacts for awards, honors, and scholarships. These awards administrators collect and process all nomination and application packages, maintain all records associated with the awards programs, assist in coordinating the judging panels and judging process, and handle all correspondence, including nominee and nominator notifications. Melodie Dziduch is the awards administrator for the Foundation (melodie@entfdn.org, phone 301-459-9082), and Andrew Owens performs the same function for ESA (awards@entsoc.org, phone 301-731-4535, extension 3022).