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<< back to the 1999 archive listing << Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation Views From Your President, June 1999 Sending us your Best This past month I've had the opportunity to perform one of the more pleasant
duties as President In many organizations, one of the biggest challenges with which awards committees contend is narrowing the field of nominees to the top two or three candidates. I'm sorry to report that IAMFES does not have this problem. In fact, we have the opposite problem. In the case of IAMFES awards, the number of submissions is often disappointingly small. In some cases, the awards committees have actually had to actively solicit submissions because so few voluntary submissions were received. The question is often raised, why are our Members so reluctant to submit their friends and colleagues for IAMFES awards? Here are some of the reasons I've heard: o Everybody's business is nobody's business. This is a major reason why IAMFES Members don't submit the names of colleagues for awards, particularly in the case of the MOST obvious potential nominees. It is assumed that since the person is so obviously deserving, that someone (else) will be sure to nominate the person. Result? Nobody ends up nominating the person. The message here is clear. If you know of a deserving person, make yourself a committee of one and nominate the person. We'd rather have multiple nominations for worthy individuals than none. o The nomination process is too complicated. Some Members are concerned that perhaps the applications process may be difficult, time consuming or complicated. In fact, nominating someone is often as simple as writing a letter of nomination and sending information about the nominee. In addition, the IAMFES office can provide you with the type of information needed as well as awards criteria. o I can't think of anybody to submit. Of all the reasons not to submit someone, this is the easiest to remedy. To find someone to submit, simply open your eyes at work, your local affiliate meeting, or at the IAMFES Annual Meeting. Virtually every IAMFES Member is eligible for some award. We have awards for students, educators, activity within IAMFES, public service, corporate excellence in food safety, and distinctive work as a sanitarian. Committees and Professional Development Groups are especially fertile grounds for identifying worthy nominees. All it takes is the willingness to identify these people. o We have no chance of winning. A quick look at the award winners for the affiliate awards (C. B. Shogren and Membership Achievement Awards) shows that the same affiliates seem to repeatedly win these awards. Many affiliate members believe this happens because the winning affiliates are the largest or richest. They believe that only such affiliates have a chance of winning and that small or newer affiliates are simply not competitive. Not true!! In fact, the main reason the same affiliates win repeatedly is that they are the ones that consistently apply! Winning the C. B. Shogren Award has more to do with an enthusiastic spirit of the affiliate and a thoughtfully written dossier, and much less to do with size. Moreover, even the tiniest affiliate can win a Membership Achievement Award if they simply submit their annual report. o I just didn't think of it. I must admit, I've been guilty of this excuse. We are all so busy with our jobs and families these days that we just simply forget about the awards until the deadline is upon us, or even passed. IAMFES typically publishes the initial request for award submissions in the fall issues of Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation. The typical well-intentioned response might be to think of someone to nominate at the time of these notices, but then forget as time passes. The various IAMFES awards were created to both foster and reward excellence. The more nominees submitted, the keener the competition and higher the standards will become. Do your part for your association by promoting and actively participating in the IAMFES awards program. |