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Policies & Procedures - 6.1 Awards Committee

- approved 4/99, updated 3/09, 9/10 -

1. Organization

1.0 The President appoints the Chair of the Awards Committee, who reports to the VP-Technical Activities, for a two-year term coincident with the term of the President. The Chair may be re-appointed for one additional term.

1.1 The Awards Committee has a minimum of 12 (and a maximum of 15) Members plus the Chair. Each Member has a term of 3 years and each year a minimum of four new Members are appointed by the Chair. Appointments shall aim toward a reasonable balance among different technical areas, different regions and countries, and industry and academic sectors. A Member may be re-appointed for one additional term.

1.2 The Committee membership, description of awards, and instructions for making nominations shall be posted on a dedicated Awards page on the ComSoc web site.


2. Functions

2.0 The Awards Committee evaluates candidates for ComSoc-level awards and selects award winners. It further considers any awards-related issue presented to it by the President or the Board of Governors. The Awards Committee shall have no jurisdiction over awards offered by subsidiary organizations of ComSoc, but shall be consulted on processes and standards prior to establishment of or change in any such award.

2.1 Nominations of papers for ComSoc-level prize paper awards shall be solicited, sufficiently in advance before the nominations deadline, from the VP-Publications and Editors-in-Chief of all ComSoc publications. There shall be an open call on the ComSoc web site, an additional solicitation to the Technical Activities Council via the VP-Technical Activities, and optional solicitations to other officers and volunteers.
The recipients for the ComSoc prize paper awards shall be selected by the Awards Committee sufficiently in advance of ICC, and presented by the Awards Committee Chair and the President during ICC each year.

2.2 Nominations of individuals for career and service awards shall be solicited, sufficiently in advance before the nominations deadlines, in open calls through the ComSoc web site and in publications.
The recipients for ComSoc career and service awards shall be selected by the Awards Committee sufficiently in advance of ICC or GLOBECOM, depending on the deadline(s) specified for each award. Awards shall be presented by the Awards Committee Chair and the President during GLOBECOM each year, unless the award is one for which a decision was made in advance of ICC, in which case the presentation may optionally be made at ICC.

2.3 When no acceptable candidate, or not enough candidates are nominated for any award by the deadline, the Awards Committee may solicit additional nominations.  Also, the Committee will determine at the end of each evaluation process whether each unsuccessful career/service nomination should be continued, updated, or discontinued for consideration the following year.

2.4 Relevant discussion and the selection of award recipients may be carried out in face-to-face meetings or by e-mail, electronic discussion thread or other collaborative environment, conference call or teleconferencing. E-mail voting is a sufficient means for decision.

2.5 Any proposed change in the ComSoc awards program shall be first discussed by the Awards Committee, and a recommendation submitted to the Board of Governors for its consideration.

2.6 The Awards Committee shall hold a face-to-face meeting at each ICC/GLOBECOM to discuss relevant issues. A preparatory email interchange shall give an opportunity for participation to members of the Awards Committee who are unable to attend.

2.7 The Awards Committee shall solicit advice and nominations from the Technical Activities Council, of which the Awards Committee Chair is a member.


3. Operational Restrictions and Options

3.1 Committee deliberations for each award, and all documents submitted to or created by the Committee, shall be strictly confidential. Only the finally decided award recipients shall be openly announced.

3.2 The E-mail group alias for the Awards Committee, and any paper or electronic collaboration environment created for the Committee's deliberations, are closed and their use restricted to Awards Committee Members.

3.3 The Awards Committee Chair may appoint award-specific evaluation subcommittees, reporting to the full Committee, to reduce the workload on Members. A joint evaluation subcommittee may be created with another Society for evaluation of nominations for a jointly sponsored award. A joint subcommittee shall report to the Awards Committees of both sponsoring Societies, but may, if so specified in the approved award description, make the final decision on a joint award.

3.4 In conformance with IEEE Policy 4.4.H, no Awards committee member may nominate or be a reference for an individual or paper nominated for a ComSoc award. An Awards Committee Member may be nominated for a ComSoc award, but must withdraw from discussion or evaluation of nominations for any award for which he/she, or a close associate, or a paper authored or coauthored by the committee member or a close associated, is nominated.

3.5 The current President or the VP-Technical Activities, to whom the Awards Committee reports, may not nominate or submit a written reference or endorsement for a candidate for any award. No other officers are subject to this exclusion. The Committee Chair shall be free to consult the President or VP-Technical Activities on any awards issue.


4. Budget and Support Staff

4.1 A staff member at ComSoc Headquarters shall be appointed to support the operations of the Awards Committee.

4.2 The budget of the Awards Committee shall be included as a part of the overall budget of the Vice President - Technical Activities.


5. Operational Schedule

5.0 The following schedule shall be followed under normal circumstances.

5.1 Prize Paper Awards and eligible career/service awards

January 10:
Publications officers and EICs of publications reminded of February 15 deadline for prize paper nominations. Technical Activities Council informed. Open call on web site for nominations for prize paper awards and for any career/service award for which nominations are accepted on February 15. Staff begins Awards Luncheon scheduling with ICC local organizers.

February 15:
Deadline for nominations for all prize paper awards and for any eligible (February 15 nomination deadline) career/service award.

February 22:
Individual Members or subcommittees assigned paper and/or career/service award(s) for which nominations are to be reviewed, with deadline of two months before ICC.

No later than 50 days before ICC:
Teleconference of full Awards Committee and award decisions, based on evaluation results from individual Members or subcommittees, email balloting in the prior week and balloting during the meeting.

No later than 45 days before ICC:
Award winners are informed by Staff and invited to the Awards Ceremony. Staff begins preparation of award certificates, plaques, and checks.

Morning of luncheon at ICC:
Staff delivers awards materials to room where luncheon is being held and runs through presentation details with Awards Committee Chair and local organizers.

5.2 Career/service Awards

July 15:
Call for nominations with deadline of September 1. Inform all Society officers and publish open call. Staff begins Awards Luncheon scheduling with GLOBECOM local organizers.

September 1:
Deadline for nominations.

September 3:
Subcommittees assigned nominations to review, with deadline of two months before GLOBECOM.

No later than 50 days before GLOBECOM:
Teleconference of full Awards Committee and award decisions, based on evaluation results from individual Members or subcommittees, email balloting in the prior week and balloting during the meeting.

No later than 45 days before GLOBECOM:
Award winners are informed by Staff and invited to the Awards Ceremony. Staff begins preparation of award certificates, plaques, and checks.

Morning of Luncheon at GLOBECOM:
Staff delivers awards materials to room where luncheon is being held and runs through presentation details with Awards Committee Chair and Local Arrangements person.


6. Encouragement of Nominations for IEEE Awards

6.0 The Awards Committee shall encourage nominations for IEEE awards relevant to the scope and interests of the IEEE Communications Society.

6.1 A link to IEEE's Web site for open call for nominations shall be posted on ComSoc's Web page for Awards, and published in ComSoc's Enews when requested by the Awards Committee Chair.

6.2 The ComSoc support staff member shall maintain liaison with IEEE and TAB Awards Staff and relay received information to the Awards Committee chair. The Awards Committee chair shall, in turn, remind the Awards Committee, and the relevant ComSoc Boards, Councils, Committees and Officers about relevant IEEE awards and the deadlines for nominations.