Guidelines for Funding and Recognition Nominations

Please review the specific funding or recognition opportunity information before submitting your nomination, as it may vary.

Eligibility to nominate

To nominate an individual for recognition or funding, you:

• Do not need to be an APS member
• May only submit one nomination for a particular prize or award, excluding nominations for APS Fellowship and Unit Awards
• May not submit a self-nomination

Exceptions to this eligibility information include:

• Many unit awards
• The Deborah Jin Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Atomic, Molecular or Optical Physics
• The Justin Jankunas Doctoral Dissertation Award in Chemical Physics
• The Irwin Oppenheim Award, which allows self-nominations
• Lectureship and fellowship awards

Eligibility to be nominated

To be nominated for funding or recognition, an individual:

• Must meet APS's standards for professional and ethical conduct
• Does not need to be an APS member
• Should be nominated for recent work
• Should generally be nominated as an individual, though primary members of teams or collaborations may be considered, especially those that involve more than one institution
• Should not be nominated for funding or recognition they have already received from APS and should only be nominated for new work and for funding and recognition opportunities they have not previously won, unless unless the individual has significantly extended the previously-recognized work or achievements such that further recognition is appropriate

Additionally, when nominating someone, you should consider the accomplishments of women, racial and ethnic identities in the sciences and scientists outside the United States. APS does not consider nominations of deceased individuals.

Exceptions to this nominee eligibility information include:

• The Justin Jankunas Doctoral Dissertation Award in Chemical Physics
• The Deborah Jin Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Atomic, Molecular or Optical Physics
• Many APS unit awards

Nomination materials

Please review the specific funding or recognition opportunity information before compiling your nomination materials, as they may vary.

When nominating an exceptional individual for funding or recognition, you should include:

• The nominee’s name, institution, and contact information
• The date the nominee passed their dissertation or thesis defense, for dissertation and thesis awards
• A suggested citation, beginning with the word "For" and consisting of less than 300 characters and that does not include the nominee's name, gendered pronouns or symbols
• A nomination letter that evaluates the qualifications of the nominee and identifies the specific work or achievement to be recognized
• At least two, but no more than four, letters of support that evaluate the qualifications of the nominee and that identifies the specific work or achievement to be recognized
• The nominee’s CV or biosketch
• A list of the nominee’s most important publications

You may also choose to submit up to five reprints or preprints from the nominee, though these are optional.

The submission process

Please review the specific funding or recognition opportunity information before submitting your nomination materials, as deadlines may vary. For most funding and recognition opportunities, the submission period opens in January.

Step one: Accessing the nomination system

To log into the APS nomination system, you will need your myAPS account credentials.

When you have logged into the system, review the list of recognition and funding opportunities, select the appropriate one and select the "Start" button.

Step two: The nomination form and files

Select the option to begin a new submission.

Follow the prompts to complete the nomination form.

You may save your progress as you fill out the form.

Upload required files. all files must be written in English and uploaded as PDFs.

Letters must be on letterhead, dated and signed either physically or electronically. The letter filenames must include the name of the nominee, and letter writers are responsible for uploading their letters to the nomination system.

Step three: Editing and submitting your nominations

You may edit your saved nominations by selecting "My Nominations."

You can then view your in progress nominations and select "Edit" for the appropriate nomination.

When you are ready to submit your nomination, select "Save and Finalize."

The selection process

Selection committees review nominations after the deadline has passed.

Selection committees

APS units or committees form selection committees. APS units may define selection committee composition in their bylaws.

After reviewing the nominations, selection committees recommend recipients for review to the APS Committee on Prizes and Awards. Then, the APS Council of Representatives reviews and approves these recommendations for Society-level funding and recognition opportunities. Unit leaders or executive committees may review and approve dissertation and unit awards.

Notification of funding or recognition

After selections are approved, the APS president sends a notification letter to the individual who will be honored with funding or recognition. The letter is also sent to the nominator, co-sponsors, the selection committee chair, the related unit chair and the APS secretary. APS also announces the recipient on our website and social media.

APS staff notify nominees and nominators who are not selected.

Nomination carryover

Some funding and recognition opportunities may allow the nomination to be carried over into the next review cycle.

Carryover eligibility

After three years, nominations for annual funding and recognition opportunities expire and are no longer eligible. Nominations for biennial funding and recognition opportunities expire after two years and are no longer eligible. Opportunities such as the LeRoy Apker Award and many dissertation awards do not carry over.

If your nomination has expired, you may submit a new nomination.

The nomination carryover process

When the next nomination cycle begins, APS staff will contact you if your nomination is eligible for carryover. You should then:

• Review your nomination
• Make updates
• Resubmit the nomination before the nomination deadline