Awards Training

The recognition of excellence in counseling is a fundamental purpose of Chi Sigma Iota International. This recognition begins with the initiation of members into the Society. In addition, awards for outstanding members are given at the chapter and international levels. CSI encourages chapters to duplicate the international awards process at the chapter level. This provides not only an opportunity for recognition of excellence among chapter members, but also an opportunity for leadership training and development relative to the process of preparing and implementing an effective awards program.

To implement an awards process at the chapter level, the establishment of a chapter awards committee is necessary. This committee, as described in the next section, will develop timelines, selection criteria, and procedures for implementing the chapter awards process. This process will involve the members of the committee in the challenging tasks of developing and evaluating award nominations. Successful nominations at the chapter level will be forwarded to CSI for inclusion in the international awards process.

There is an art to preparing a successful award nomination. This packet includes suggestions for preparation of packets. In particular, an emphasis is placed on starting the process early to assure adequate time for collecting information and preparing awards packets.

The presentation of awards to successful nominees is an important event. It should be done in a manner which elevates the status of the award as well as the recipient. A written script assures that important information is included in the presentation. This packet includes the outline of a script, and is available on computer disk for chapters who would like to "fill in the blanks" for their own awards ceremonies.

Each CSI Chapter is encouraged to establish an awards committee. All members of the committee should be members in good standing of the Chapter. Three to five committee members should be adequate. Of course, committee members may not be individuals who would like to be considered for awards, as this would constitute a conflict of interest on their part.

Mission and Goals

The mission of the Chapter Awards Committee is to develop, implement, and oversee an effective awards program which will provide the opportunity for leadership development and recognition of excellence among chapter members through:

1. awards solicitations, nominations, and selection at the chapter level,
2. awards presentations and publicity at the chapter level, and
3. forwarding of chapter awards recipients as nominations for International awards.

The Awards Committee will need to study the criteria for CSI International Awards, found later in this packet, and determine which awards to duplicate at the chapter level. Some of these are obvious. For example, the outstanding chapter awards would not be appropriate at the chapter level. However, each of the outstanding member awards would be possible and even desirable. A research award or awards at the chapter level is encouraged. Of course, all chapters should consider the submission of nominees for Fellow and Intern awards.

Recruitment and Training of Committee Members

Members of the chapter should be encouraged to view participation on the awards committee as an opportunity for leadership development. Experience and skills in all aspects of the awards process may be developed. Three to five committee members, working together under the direction of the faculty advisor, are suggested. An odd number is suggested for decision making purposes, to avoid tie votes. (One option is to have the chair a non-voting member except in the case of a tie vote.)

Members of the Chapter Awards Committee will not be eligible to be nominated for awards, and thus should be persons who have no conflict of interest relative to the selection process. Past recipients of chapter awards are thus ideal committee members, as are new members of the chapter who can be mentored for additional leadership positions.

The members of the awards committee should reflect the membership of the chapter, including students of various program tracks and degrees, alumni, faculty, and professional members.

The committee should meet to review and discuss the awards criteria, set timelines for the awards process, and discuss their rating forms and selection criteria prior to the solicitation of nominations.

A member of the committee, preferably the chair, should be designated to provide technical assistance to persons in the development of nominations.

Timelines and Solicitations

The top three hints for an effective awards program are these:

1. Start early,
2. Start early, and …
3. Start early.

Starting early will allow the awards committee adequate time to establish clear criteria for screening and selecting nominees. This information is important as a precursor to the development of the nomination forms. Ideally, rating sheets for members of the awards committee will be developed concurrently with the nomination forms. This provides a check on the need for accurate information on which to base selection decisions.

Each chapter should develop a timeline for its awards process. Sample timelines are as follows Note that these timelines are designed to avoid the holidays and final exam time, when students and faculty are most busy. Also, the timelines will vary depending on award nomination deadlines established by CSI International.

Sample Timeline 1:

September 15 Awards Committee meets to refine criteria
October 1 Awards solicitations and publicity begin
November 15 Deadline for submission of nominations
November 17 Awards Committee meets to select recipients
November 17 Plaques or other recognition for recipients ordered
December 1 Awards Committee refines nominations for submission to CSI International
December 1 Awards packets submitted to CSI International

Sample Timeline 2:

September 1 Awards Committee meets to refine criteria
September 15 Awards solicitations and publicity begin
October 15 Deadline for submission of nominations
October 17 Awards Committee meets to select recipients
October 30 Chapter initiation ceremony held, including recognition of award recipients
November 15 Awards Committee refines nominations for submission to CSI International
December 1 Awards packets submitted to CSI International

Nomination Packets

Successful nomination packets are responsive to the awards nomination, are attractively packaged, and include adequate supportive documentation.

Read the nomination criteria carefully, then respond to each item in the list of criteria. Readers will not know if a given item is not applicable and therefore not addressed, or if the nominator simply neglected to respond to that item (perhaps in the hope that the selection committee would not notice).

Packaging makes a difference. It should not be underdone (e.g., a loose set of papers) or overdone (e.g., expensive binders, videotapes, posters). If the criteria ask for a specific cover page or form, that page should appear first. A cover page (perhaps in color) which lists the name of the award and the nominee in attractive format is also possible. A table of contents which states the items included in the packet is helpful to reviewers. The packet should not be bound but should be stapled, as this will help to minimize mailing costs for your chapter as well as the CSI Awards Committee.

Letters of nomination need to be as specific as possible. For example, include what positions the nominee has held in your chapter, what specific projects he or she was responsible for and a qualitative evaluation of how those duties were accomplished. Personal qualities of the nominee which reflect his or her commitment to excellence in counseling should be included. If possible, use letterhead stationary for your chapter, university, or other organization.

The Chapter President or Faculty Advisor may wish to summarize other letters of recommendation in his or her own letter of support.

To ease the burden of faculty members needing to write several letters of nomination for students, chapters may choose to utilize a Chapter Faculty Rating Form for the chapter-level nominees. This may be helpful during the chapter level awards selection process, however the full letters of nomination are required for submission with the CSI International awards packages.

Selection Criteria

Selection criteria should be specific to the nomination criteria and as objective as possible. It is recommended that chapters develop a rating sheet for each award for use by reviewers which lists each of the criteria for the award, including letters of support, and provides a column for assignment of a numeric rating for each item. Reviewers would independently review the nomination and assign points, on a scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10 for each item. Space would be provided at the bottom of the form for qualitative comments.

During the meeting to select the final recipients, committee members can share their numerical ratings as a starting point for the discussion. With large numbers of nominees, the use of numerical ratings can help to reduce the pool of serious contenders for an award. However, numerical ratings should never comprise the sole basis for selection of recipients, as numbers alone cannot reflect the quality of the nominees. Some discussion of quality will need to be a part of all decision-making by the committee.

Sample Rating Forms

Chapters may download the CSI Awards Program Chapter Rating Grid (see sample below)

Or chapters may choose to create a basic form using a list of the criteria for each award (see sample below).

Rating form for Outstanding Entry-Level Student:

Name of Nominee:
Name of Rater:
Nomination Criteria Points
Grade point average (3.5 or better)
Extra-curricular activities
Service to chapter
Service to the profession
Evidence of excellence
Professional work experience
Vita
Letters of support
Supplementary evidence
Overall evaluation
Total points
Comments:

Publicity about the recipients of awards is essential. This includes attention to the Awards Ceremony/Program booklet and follow-up articles about recipients in the chapter newsletter and local papers.

Printing the names of award recipients and including them in the program may take away the "mystique" of the presentations, however, the importance of the awards remains intact. An alternative is to print a supplement to the program which lists the awards, the recipients, and a little information about each one which can be handed out as participants leave. This can be a nice memento for the recipients and their families, and is of interest to other members of the chapter as well. In addition to describing each award, the recipients of that award in prior years can be mentioned.

A brief news release about each award recipient which can be provided for their home town newspaper is desirable. This news release can be used as well for the chapter newsletter or other department and university publications. News releases should include the award criteria and characteristics of the recipient which led to their selection. News releases can be prepared in advance of the awards ceremony.

Chapters may refer to the Chapter Awards Ceremony: Script for Presentations of Awards (.doc) when preparing for their awards ceremony.

Chapters may order award plaques from the CSI Store that can be customized with the chapter’s logo (after receiving approval for use of the chapter logo by submitting the Chapter Logo Request Form). This sample wording should be used by chapters for award plaques ordered through the CSI Store or other vendors.

Reminder: chapters must receive approval from CSI Headquarters for any and all uses of the chapter logo by submitting the Chapter Logo Request Form.

The [CHAPTER NAME] Chapter
of
Chi Sigma Iota Counseling Academic and Professional Honor Society International

[NAME OF AWARD]

Presented to

[NAME OF AWARD RECIPIENT]

[UNIVERSITY NAME]

[DATE]

Example:

The Alpha Beta Chi Delta Chapter
of
Chi Sigma Iota Counseling Academic and Professional Honor Society International

OUTSTANDING  ENTRY LEVEL STUDENT AWARD

Presented to

Pat Doe

University of State

2017

An ideal time for presenting chapter awards is during the induction ceremony for new members. Since this is already a time for recognition of excellence, the awards presentations are appropriate. In addition, sharing information about outstanding members of your chapter with new initiates serves the purpose of providing additional role models of excellence in counseling.

Should you or your chapter have additional ideas concerning chapter awards, please share them through the listserv for faculty advisors and/or chapter officers.