Staff Awards Program - Human Resources

Who should you nominate? Before you can write your nomination you must first, carefully review the nomination criteria for the awards to determine the most appropriate person or team you would like to honor.

• Team awards:
  • Nominated teams may include members of faculty and/or staff.  Teams may include students, however, the team membership must consist of substantially more members of faculty and/or staff than students.
  • Any individual, including past Excellence-in-Service winners, may be nominated as part of a team at any time.
• Individual awards:
  • Have at least two (2) years of service at NMU as a full or part time (not less than .50 FTE) employee.
  • Have at least one (1) year of service in their current assignment.
  • Have a positive employment record during the past two (2) years.
  • Cannot be serving on the Selection Committee at the time of nomination.
  • Excellence-in-Service winners may only receive the individual award once every five years.

Review the policy and the procedures for each award: Employee Recognition Policy

• Write your nomination with as much specific information as you can.
• The selection committee is relying on your words and examples to “see” your nominee’s attributes and contributions. The people on the selection committee may not know anything about your nominee’s job, so detailed information is key! Include a brief description of your nominee’s typical job duties. Tell the committee how the nominee goes above and beyond their normal duties.
• Give specific examples – use descriptive language and then give a situation or example that shows why the individual or team should win the award. Giving specific and detailed examples about your nominee, will help the selection committee better understand why your nominee should win!
• Provide detailed accomplishments and your nominee’s impact at the University.
• Share examples of how your nominee serve as a role model and/or mentor for others.
• If applicable, list projects and programs where he/she is involved.
• Describe how your nominee(s) work performance demonstrates commitment to NMU's mission, vision and core values and/or contributes to transformative change in health, well-being and sustainability.
• Use Strong Statements
  • Weak: “Steve is innovative and a true team player.”
  • Strong: “Steve realized some of our monthly reports were being prepared manually, he took it upon himself to automate the process. Steve even went as far as to train our team on Microsoft Access-with specific emphasis on how to apply the tools and techniques to our needs. He put together a terrific training session with handouts and notes that we continue to use as reference materials.”
• Avoid sweeping generalities; Make every sentence count!