The Communicator of Achievement Award, National Federation of Press Women’s highest honor for members, is given to an individual nominated by his or her state affiliate for highest achievement in the communications field and service to the affiliate, NFPW and the community.

Traditionally, each affiliate honors its nominee in its own way. All affiliate nominees for NFPW Communicator of Achievement are recognized individually, and the winner is announced at the COA Banquet at NFPW’s annual conference.

Nomination Criteria

• Each affiliate may choose one COA nominee.
• A previous nominee can be named by an affiliate again, as long as he or she has not been honored as NFPW’s national COA winner.
• All nominees must be living members, in good standing for at least two years in an affiliate and NFPW.

Judging Criteria

Nominees will be judged on these four elements:

• Professional achievement: 50%
  All nominees should have high professional qualifications and achievements in their areas of communications (any field that has qualified the nominee for NFPW membership).
• Community service: 20%
  Each nominee should have made some impact on the world beyond his or her profession — some contribution to humanity. That impact or contribution may be through the profession or beyond it.
• NFPW service: 15%
  Since this is NFPW’s highest award, each nominee should have been active in the national organization. This could include attendance at previous NFPW conferences, volunteering or giving presentations at NFPW conferences, or other activities deemed by the judges to have been of service to NFPW.
• State affiliate service: 15%
  Each nominee should have made a definite and important contribution to NMPW, as the state affiliates are important for carrying out the mission of NFPW.

Entry Requirements

Nomination packages should be submitted electronically to the NMPW COA Chair Marilyn Ward.

Entry Contents

Nomination packages must contain all of the following contents. Send a brief cover note with separate file attachments of each element of the package. Label each file with your state’s abbreviation, the nominee’s last name, and the file name, as indicated in samples below.

Official entry form (NM-LastName-Entry.doc)

• A brief summary in resumé-style list form of vital information about the nominee divided among professional, community and NFPW / affiliate service. (One page – 500 words maximum) (NM-LastName-Bio.doc)
• A narrative about the nominee (Up to four pages – 2,400 words maximum) (NM-LastName-Narrative.doc)
• Endorsements of the nominees. You may excerpt from full-length endorsements. (Two pages – 1,200 words maximum) (NM-LastName-Endorsements.doc)
• Two samples of the nominee’s work (such as published stories or on-camera appearances) to prove he or she has been a professional communicator. This gives the judge an idea of the type of work done by the nominee; the quality of the work isn’t being judged here. Print samples can be PDF scans or website URLS or links to bylined stories (or portions of stories). (Two pages – may include copy excerpts, graphic images/clips or digital links) Broadcast samples should be limited to 10 minutes. A MP3, a MP4, a CD, a DVD, or other electronic files may be uploaded to a website or to YouTube or Vimeo and the URL submitted. (NM-LastName-Sample1.doc); (NM-LastName-Sample2.doc)
• In addition, include:
  • A 150-word biography for AGENDA (NM-LastName-Agenda.doc)
  • A 75-word biography for the conference program (NM-LastName-Program.doc)
  • A color photograph of the nominee in jpg format at least 300-dpi resolution (NM-LastName-Photo.jpg)

The biographies will be subject to editing in the interest of consistency and space. The materials will be used for PR and print purposes.