Awards for Excellence

The Society of American Archivists is in search of excellence! Do you know of an individual or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to the archives profession? Or promoted greater public awareness of archives? Have you published a groundbreaking book, written an outstanding article, or developed an innovative finding aid? Click on the links below to learn more about the below awards and nominate a deserving colleague—or yourself! Please consult the specific award for submission requirements and nomination form. Note that you can apply or be nominated for multiple awards in a single cycle, but may only receive one. The deadline for nominations is February 28. 

Contributions to the Archives Profession

• Distinguished Service Award  (for an archival institution, education program, nonprofit organization, or government organization that has provided outstanding service to its public and has made an exemplary contribution to the archives profession)

• Sister M. Claude Lane, O.P., Memorial Award  (for significant contribution to the field of religious archives)

• Spotlight Award  (for work for the good of the archives profession and of archival collections)

• Diversity Award  (for outstanding contributions in advancing diversity)

• Archival Innovator Award  (for the greatest overall current impact on the profession)

• Mark A. Greene Emerging Leader Award  (for early-career archivists who have demonstrated significant promise of leadership) 

• Council Exemplary Service Award  (for a special contribution to the archives profession)

Advocacy

• J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award  (for promoting greater public awareness, appreciation, or support of archival activities or programs)

• Philip M. Hamer-Elizabeth Hamer Kegan Award  (for increasing public awareness of a specific body of documents)

Writing and Publishing

• C.F.W. Coker Award  (for finding aids, tools or projects that involve innovative development in archival description)

• Waldo Gifford Leland Award  (for writing of superior excellence and usefulness in the field of archival history, theory, or practice)

• Preservation Publication Award  (for outstanding published work related to archives preservation)

• Fellows’ Ernst Posner Award  (for outstanding essay in most recent volume of The American Archivist)

• Theodore Calvin Pease Award  (for superior writing achievement by a student of archival studies as nominated by his/her instructor)