NACA Mid America

The Janet Carl Smith Award honors an individual for their outstanding contributions to the field of campus activities and service to NACA. The professional created opportunities for students to engage in the area of campus activities and made a significant impact on student life. The award is considered to be the region’s highest honor bestowed upon a colleague. The nomination letter should demonstrate how the professional lives out the values of the association, the impact the professional has had on the region, as well as the volunteer roles the individual has held within the association.  The nominee must be currently employed at a college or university.

Nomination Materials: It is recommended that the nominee provide three letters of support elaborating on the above criteria to supplement the Individual Awards Application.

This award recognizes an individual with more than three years of full time staff experience in the field, with at least two years with the NACA Mid America region. The nominator should show that the professional demonstrates innovative service, creativity, and commitment to the profession, their own institution, and NACA. The nominator should also demonstrate the professional’s regional and/or national NACA activities and involvement in other professional organizations (if applicable). In addition it should be shown that the professional is viewed by colleagues as an educator and displays genuine support and regard for students. The nominee must be currently employed as a full-time professional staff member at a college or university.

Nomination Materials: It is recommended, but not required, that the nominee provide two letters of support elaborating on the above criteria to supplement the Individual Awards Application. One of these letters should be from the professional’s supervisor while the other is from a student the professional supervises.

This award is presented annually to an individual with at least one year and not more than three years of full-time experience, including at least one year with the NACA Mid America region. The nominator should show that the professional demonstrates innovative service, creativity, and commitment to the profession, their own institution, and NACA. The nominator should also demonstrate the professional’s regional and/or national NACA activities and involvement in other professional organizations (if applicable). The nominee must be currently employed as a full-time professional staff member at a college or university.

Nomination Materials: It is recommended, but not required, that the nominee provide two letters of support elaborating on the above criteria to supplement the Individual Awards Application. One of these letters should be from the professional’s supervisor while the other is from a student the professional supervises.

This award recognizes a student currently pursuing a degree from a higher education graduate program and who has also made substantial contributions to the NACA Mid America Region. The nominator must demonstrate the impact the graduate student has made on the Mid America region while maintaining responsibilities related to their graduate assistantship, institution, and programming board. Please also demonstrate that this graduate student has a desire to pursue a career in student affairs.

Nomination Materials: It is recommended, but not required, that the nominee provide two letters of support elaborating on the above criteria to supplement the Individual Award Application. One of these letters should be from the graduate student’s supervisor, while the other is from a student the individual advises.

This award recognizes an undergraduate student from a two-year or four-year educational setting who has made substantial contributions to the NACA Mid America Region. The nominator must demonstrate the impact the student has made on the Mid America region and on their individual campus while maintaining their responsibilities within the programming board.

Nomination Materials: It is recommended, but not required, that the nominee provide two letters of support elaborating on the above criteria to supplement the Individual Awards Application. At least one of these letters should come from the student’s programming board advisor.

This award recognizes an associate member with more than three years of experience within the association   including at least two years with the NACA Mid America region. The nominator should show that the associate member has lived out the values of the association, worked hard to build relationships with school members and contributed relevant,timely programming to the college entertainment industry. The nominator should also demonstrate the associate’s regional and/or national NACA activities and involvement in other professional organizations (if applicable). In addition it should be shown that the associate is viewed by colleagues as an advocate for education and displays genuine support and regard for students and campus activities.

Nomination Materials: It is recommended that the nominee provide two letters of support elaborating on the above criteria to supplement the Individual Awards Application. One of these letters should be from a campus partner while the other is from a fellow associate/colleague.

This award is presented to a program from a member institution for which there was an educational diversity, social justice, or multicultural theme. The program should have contributed to the understanding of diverse populations and/or social justice within the entire campus community.

This award is presented to a program from a member institution for which the programming board collaborated with another entity (student organization, campus office, local business, organization, or venue, etc.). The collaboration should have included an equal sharing of responsibilities and planning, resulting in a successful program.

This award recognizes the most outstanding program of the year within the NACA Mid America region. This program should be a college or university’s signature program and should have attracted a large amount of attention and student involvement. Special consideration will be given to a program that demonstrates collaboration and innovation. It is recommended that supporting documents, such as posters, fliers, and pictures, be submitted to support applications in this category.

This award recognizes the most outstanding programming board in the NACA Mid America region. Applications should demonstrate why the programming board has been outstanding in the past year, with special attention paid to student participation on the board and in events. Each school is encouraged to submit promotional materials, event/organizational pictures, testimonials, evaluation information and other supporting materials as needed that are relevant to the application and submission criteria. Your materials should specifically relate to the written documentation, which should also address the criteria below:

• Organizational Goals
  • Describe your organization’s goals and mission
  • Describe how you met this mission and achieved these goals through your programming schedule
• Organization Information
  • Describe the types of events that make up your programming calendar
  • Indicate your typical annual budget (Please submit a copy of this budget – salaries will not be included in the amount considered)
  • Discuss how your organization financially supports its programming efforts
  • Indicate how many members your organization has. Please describe the executive positions and the position responsibilities
  • Indicate how many volunteers your organization has and what the role of those volunteers includes
  • Indicate how many advisors your organization has
• Planning and Preparation
  • Elaborate on your target audience(s)
  • Explain any challenges to your programs and how your programming board responded to them
  • List all campus resources (financial, human, logistical) that contributed to the success of your programs
• Publicity and Promotion
  • Describe your promotional strategies for attracting your target audience(s)
  • Describe your advertising methods and highlight any particularly creative techniques used
• Evaluation
  • Discuss any evaluation process used in measuring the success of your programs
• Campus Support
  • Please include any letters of support from various campus administrators or students that elaborate on the value of your organizational programming efforts in relation to the educational mission of your college or university