The Archival Innovator Award recognizes an archivist, a group of archivists, a repository, or an organization that demonstrates the greatest overall current impact on the profession or their communities. Nominee(s) should meet as many of the following criteria as possible:
The work should be undertaken within the past three years—it need not be completed, but it must be sufficiently advanced to demonstrate results.
Created in 2011, thie award is funded by the Society of American Archivists Foundation.
A certificate and complimentary registration for the recipient(s) (if a repository or an organzation, then one representative) to the SAA Annual Meeting occurring in the year in which the award is presented.
2012
The Archival Innovators Award Subcommittee of the Awards Committee is composed of three members of the Society of American Archivists and one of the co-chairs of the SAA Awards Committee (ex officio). One member of the subcommittee shall be appointed each year by the SAA President-elect to serve a three-year term. The senior member of the subcommittee in years of service shall serve as its chair and shall present the award during the Awards Ceremony at the SAA Annual Meeting.
Click here to preview the nomination form and/or to start a nomination. All nominations must be submitted by February 28 of each year.
2024: Indigenous Archival Training Program
2023: Opioid Industry Documents Archive
2022: Community-Driven Archives at Arizona State University Library AND the Center for Michigan Jewish Heritage
2021: National Archives and Records Administration’s History Hub
2020: Invisible Histories Project
2019: Brooklyn Connections, a school outreach program of the Brooklyn Public Library
2018: Dr. Doug Boyd, director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the University of Kentucky Libraries
2017: No applicants
2016: Dr. Foy Scalf, head of the Research Archives and Integrated Database Project Team at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
2015: State Archives of Florida's Florida Memory Team
2014: Trevor Owens, National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program at the Library of Congress
2013: Augmented Processing Table Research Team, The University of Texas at Austin School of Information, Dr. Ciaran B. Trace and Dr. Luis Francisco-Revilla
2012: Not awarded