INSTRUCTIONS FOR ECOB AWARDS NOMINATIONS SUBMISSIONS
- Scope:The “Engineer of the Year” and “Young Engineer of the Year” awards are given to practicing engineers for their accomplishments during the year prior to the banquet but should consider the nominee’s overall contributions to engineering. The “Distinguished Service Award” covers the entire career of the nominee, and the service should be demonstrated over the duration of the career to date. The “Educator of the Year” considers the past five years’ accomplishments.
- Each society represented on the Engineering Council of Birmingham may submit one nomination for each award. NOTE: the society’s dues must be current for a nominee to be judged but will be included in the printed program regardless of dues status.
- For the “Young Engineer of the Year” Award, the nominee must be 35 years of age or under on July 1st of the evaluation year. The “Engineer of the Year” Award nominee must be over the age of 35 on July 1st. The “Educator of the Year” may be working in either High School or College level but must be teaching in a subject area related to Engineering.
- All nominees must be active members of the nominating society except those nominated for the Educator of the Year award.
- All nominees must reside within the geographical boundary of ECOB, which includes the counties of Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Cullman, Jefferson, Saint Clair, Shelby, Talladega, Tuscaloosa and Walker.
- Each nominee will be judged on their activities up to the submittal deadline for the current year.
- A nominee who has received an ECOB award previously is not eligible for the same award again.
- The nominee’s name must be omitted on all nomination forms except the first and last page. If the nominee has their own consulting firm, please list it as “President or Owner of own consulting firm” in the Experience Section of the nomination form. If the nominee has publications and/or presentations, these need to be written so that the nominee’s name is removed, and the word “Nominee” is included and either bolded or underlined. Please make sure no reference is made to the nominee’s gender, race, etc. Note: the banquet summary form and digital photo are not submitted to the judges.
- The forms must be filled out as completely and accurately as possible since this is the only means the judges have to evaluate the nominee. The completed forms should be printed for signatures and scanned to pdf format for submittal to ECOB.
- The forms must be completed and received by the Awards Committee by the date indicated in the cover letter and on the website. Except in extreme circumstances where advanced permission is given, consideration will only be given to nomination forms received by that date.
- Each nominee will be assigned a specific code by the ECOB Awards Chairman. Only the pages of the nomination forms which have no name or gender references and have the assigned code are given to the judges to assure impartiality and confidentiality.
- Judging is done by the Georgia Engineering Foundation. This helps ensure neutrality and reduces the likelihood of a nominee being inadvertently identified despite the precautions taken above. The names of the judges are kept confidential and are known only to the Georgia coordinator.
- The judges score each award and nominee based on the point system outlined below:
Engineer of the Year and Young Engineer of the Year
The maximum number of points possible for the judges to score for each area is 67 for engineering experience and accomplishments, and 33 for technical/professional society activities and civic/humanitarian activities. A total of 100 points is possible for each nominee from each judge in the following categories:
1. Engineering experience and accomplishments
2. Technical/professional society activities and civic/humanitarian activitiesEducator of the Year Award
The maximum number of points possible for the judges to score for each area is 20 each for continuing education, professional/technical society activities, and civic/humanitarian activities. Academic/Engineering achievement is 40 points. A total of 100 points is possible for each nominee from each judge. This award is judged for activities and achievements in these four areas over the immediate past five years:
1. Continuing Education and Technical Development
2. Professional/Technical Society Activities
3. Civic/Humanitarian Activities
4. Academic or Engineering AchievementsDistinguished Service Award
The maximum number of points possible for the judges to score for each area is 65 for nominating society and 35 for general community. A total of 100 points is possible for each nominee from each judge in the following categories:
1. Service to nominating society
2. Service to general community
Judging is done by the Georgia Engineering Foundation. This helps ensure neutrality and reduces the likelihood of a nominee being inadvertently identified despite the precautions taken above. The names of the judges are kept confidential and are known only to the Georgia coordinator.
The Awards Chairman tallies the judges’ scores, and the winner of each award is the nominee with the highest sum of points.
If the scores for several nominees are close, the Awards Chairman checks the judge’s score sheets to ensure that each judge used the evaluation method described in Step 14. If not, the judge who did not use the described evaluation method is asked to adjust the score so that scores will have equal weight with respect to the other judges. The scores are then tallied again.
Nomination packages should include:
The nomination form for judging
A summary for the program book and introduction
A high-resolution digital photo of the nominee