• Choose the appropriate category of award. Read carefully the terms of reference and categories for each award in this brochure and select your target award. This will largely dictate the kind of information you must gather to support your nomination. If you have questions, contact PEO's Awards Secretariat.

• Recruit your nominating team. Each nomination must be signed by five nominators. At least three must be PEO members, and at least two should be people directly affiliated with the area in which the nomination is being made.

Select nominators who, by virtue of their position and knowledge of the candidate, are likely prospects for your team. Each member of your nominating team should be prepared to assist in gathering information to support the nomination.

• Research your support data. Remember that the Awards Committee will base its decision primarily on the material you supply. Your support information must give a clear picture of your candidate's achievements and indicate the reasons for the nomination.
• Prepare a thorough nomination, but please note that nomination packages must not exceed 20 pages in total, exclusive of the nomination form. Any pages beyond the nomination form that exceed 20 pages will not be reviewed or considered in the evaluation process. It is important that your nominee’s worthiness for an award category be highlighted within the maximum 20 pages of the nomination package.

Nomination forms must be accompanied by detailed supporting evidence of the candidate's eligibility for the award, including references to the nominee's character and ethical standards, and factual information appropriate to the award. Include a complete outline of your candidate's career that addresses the three selection criteria that apply to each association award. In summarizing your candidate's career, be sure to illustrate the achievements that lift it above the career of any other engineer.

Supporting evidence must also include personal statements from the five nominators, explaining why the nominee deserves an award. The most important single item in your package, nominators' statements, should be based on personal knowledge and include supporting details.

Nomination packages may also include:

• Nomination form and not more than 20 pages of supporting evidence;
• testimonials - letters of support from associates of your nominee, who are in a position to be aware of the nominee's credentials. Testimonials from non-engineers may be submitted, if appropriate;
• clippings - newspaper or journal accounts that illustrate your candidate's achievements; and
• photographs - which are particularly useful in illustrating a nominee's projects or work for technical awards.

Keep your target award in mind when preparing your nomination. If it is a technical award, ensure that all nominators' statements and data support this aspect of your nominee's career. Nominations need not contain proprietary information. If your target is the Citizenship Award, establish your nominee's engineering credentials, but also submit evidence of outstanding activities in the area of service to society and the community.

Evaluating nominations is a competitive and rigorous process. The Awards Committee will be applying the selection criteria and weighting outlined for the appropriate award category in their evaluation of each nominee. Nomination packages that omit or under-represent the appropriate award category’s selection criteria and weighting may lower a nominee’s rating relative to other worthy nominees in the same category. For instance, Gold Medal nomination packages that emphasize work-related achievements and service to the profession but omit service to society and the community may seriously limit the nominee’s chances of being selected.

• Submit your completed, maximum 20-page nomination package. The closing date for nominations is 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on the last Friday of February. Nominations submitted after the closing date will not be considered for that year’s awards program, but may be resubmitted with or without changes before the deadline for the following year’s awards program. Once you are satisfied that your nomination package is complete, forward it to:

The Awards Committee
Professional Engineers Ontario
40 Sheppard Avenue West, Suite 101
Toronto, Ontario  M2N 6K9
Tel: 416.224.1100 or 1.800.339.3716

January 26, 2010