NYSAA Award Nominees

Dear NYSAA Member, As the days become longer and signal a possible end to this seemingly endless winter, our thoughts turn to the quickly approaching Annual Meeting—this year in Oneonta. I hope your Chapter has had a busy and rewarding year. Are there people who have made important contributions that you want to recognize with an Award at the Annual Meeting? An Award can be a nice way to thank members who have helped to make your Chapter successful. It can also be a great way to recognize people who have made significant contributions to NYS archaeology. Awards can help to encourage other members to contribute in the future. Remember that Award recipients can include people providing special help with an event or with monthly meetings. They can also be used to recognize significant fieldwork, analysis, or contributing to a monograph as a junior author or author of a specialized appendix. Does your Chapter have someone whose work qualifies them to be considered for election as a Fellow of NYSAA? Has someone completed a major piece of work that might qualify for the Achievement Award? Does your Chapter have someone who has devoted a lifetime to furthering New York state archaeology and should that person be considered for the Theodore Whitney Award? I have enclosed a copy of the Criteria for Annual Awards. The listing of the Awards is alphabetical. No award is considered the “top award” or the most important. The awards are designed to recognize different kinds of contributions to NYSAA. It takes everyone contributing in the best ways that they can to make the individual Chapters, and the NYSAA as a whole, successful. I am also enclosing a copy of the application form. Please use the form and make the case for why your nominee deserves the award for which they are being nominated. In this day of the internet, providing a link to peoples’ work(s) on-line is helpful. It also helps if the completed form can be sent via email. The Fellows’ Committee carefully reviews the nominations, and it is important that you tell us why your person qualifies for a given award. Much of the committee’s review is done on-line which allows us to have all of the Fellows involved in the deliberations. A final Fellows’ Meeting is held at the NYSAA Annual Meeting to complete the deliberations. The Fellows take their responsibility seriously and carefully review the nominee(s) with respect to the criteria. Any help you can give us by providing a good nomination and online, if possible, is greatly appreciated. Because of logistics in reviewing the nominees, preparing the Awards Certificates, and preparing the addresses for the Annual Meeting, the Award Form(s) must be in my hands by March 26. If you can make your submission via email (nysaa.awards@gmail.com) that would be preferred. I will acknowledge to you receipt of the form(s) within one week of receiving them. That way you’ll be sure I got your information in time for review. If you don’t hear from me within the week, give me a call (315) 687-9441 or email me at nysaa.awards@gmail.com Looking forward to seeing you in Oneonta April 11-13. Peter P. Pratt Chairman NYSAA Awards Committee 6156 Ridge Road, RD 4 Cazenovia, NY 13035 (315) 687-9441 nysaa.awards@gmail.com