Greetings!

Nominations are now being accepted for the National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA<https://ndsa.org/>) 2023 Excellence Awards!<https://ndsa.org/groups/excellence-awards/>

The bi-ennial NDSA Excellence Awards (previously the annual Innovation Awards) were established to recognize and encourage exemplary achievement in the field of digital preservation stewardship at a level of national or international importance. Seeking to highlight and commend all forms of creative and meaningful contributions in the field of digital preservation, this working group accepts nominations for individuals, educators, future stewards, organizations, projects, and sustainability activities categories. Acknowledging that exemplary digital stewardship can take many forms, eligibility for these awards has been left purposely broad. Anyone, any institution, or any project acting in the context of the categories listed below can be nominated for an award. No NDSA membership or affiliation is required. Self-nomination is accepted and encouraged, as are submissions reflecting the needs and accomplishments of historically marginalized and underrepresented communities.

Awards categories are:

  *   Individual Award: Recognizing those individuals making a significant contribution to the digital preservation community through advances in theory or practice.
  *   Educator Award: Recognizing academics, trainers, and curricular endeavors promoting effective and inventive approaches to digital preservation education through academic programs, partnerships, professional development opportunities, and curriculum development.
  *   Future Steward Award: Recognizing students and early-career professionals making an impact on advancing knowledge and practice of digital preservation stewardship.
  *   Organization Award: Recognizing those organizations providing support, guidance, advocacy, or leadership for the digital preservation community.
  *   Project Award: Recognizing those activities whose goals or outcomes make a significant contribution or strategic or conceptual understanding necessary for successful digital preservation stewardship.
  *   Sustainability Award: Recognizing those activities whose goals or outcomes make a significant contribution to operational trustworthiness, monitoring, maintenance, or intervention necessary for sustainable digital preservation stewardship.

The NDSA is an organization consisting of a diverse international membership sharing a commitment to digital preservation. The development and support of a broad range of successful digital preservation activities is key to the future of digital stewardship. We encourage all members of the international digital preservation community to help us highlight and reward distinctive approaches to the challenges of digital preservation by submitting nominations for worthy candidates here: 2023 NDSA Excellence Awards Nominations<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf-CrFudiTsS0JvQN43XEvjR1ykXxCdQFkBaVUlBpMPBVTCug/viewform>. For more information and details on awards from previous years, please visit https://ndsa.org/groups/excellence-awards/.

Nominations will be accepted until Friday, August 4, 2023.


Awards will be presented on November 15th as part of the Opening Plenary session at the 2023 NDSA Digital Preservation conference<https://ndsa.org/conference/> in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

Attendance at the conference is encouraged but not required for awardees or nominators.

Please pass this announcement on to colleagues!


Respectfully,

NDSA Excellence Awards Working Group


Kari May, co-chair (University of Pittsburgh)

Matt McEniry, co-chair (Texas Tech University)

Julie Allen (Open Preservation Foundation)

Chris Banuelos (Rice University)

Sarah Middleton (Digital Preservation Coalition Representative)

Dorothea Salo (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Jessica Venlet (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries)