Awards for Exceptional Service

Guidelines for nominators

• Nominations open 15 October.
  
• Nominations close 14 January, 17:00 GMT.

Nominee eligibility

• This award is only open to current members of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
• Honorary or permanent officers of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Trustees and members of the Member Communities Board shall not normally be eligible to receive the Award whilst in office.
• Non-members and past members of the Royal Society of Chemistry are not eligible for this award. 
• Self-nominations will not be accepted for this award.
• Please note that extended service by an individual to a single member-led committee would normally be recognised through a long service award.

Restrictions

• It is not possible for a member to be awarded this award and the Inspirational Member Award in the same year.
• Nominators should not submit nominations for the same individual for both awards in a single year.
• An individual can normally only receive this award once.

Nominator criteria

• Any current member of the Royal Society of Chemistry may submit nominations for this award.
• Staff and non-members of the RSC are not permitted to submit, second or support nominations for this award.
• Nominations will be invited from the Board of Trustees, members of all Community Councils and the officers of our member networks.

To make a nomination, please use our online nominations system to submit the following information:

• Your name, contact details, and membership number (please contact the RSC Membership team if you do not know your membership details). Your RSC membership must be confirmed at the point of nomination – it is not sufficient to have a membership application in process. The identity of nominators/seconders is not made known to our judging panels. The RSC reserves the right to amend nominations if necessary to ensure the anonymity of the nominator.
• All nominations for this award must include details of a seconder (name, contact details, and membership number if known).
• The nominee's name and contact details.
• A citation which addresses the selection criteria and demonstrates how the activities of the individual relate to the purpose of this award. This must be no longer than 350 words. Please see the Selection Criteria and Judging Panel tab for further information on writing this citation.

The RSC reserves the right to rescind any prize if there are reasonable grounds to do so. All nominators will be asked to confirm that to the best of their knowledge there is no impediment, relating to professional conduct, to their nominee receiving this prize. All prize winners will be asked to sign the RSC’s Code of Conduct Declaration for Recognition. 

Selection Criteria and Judging Panel

Selection criteria

Download sample citation for Award for Exceptional Service

All nominations must be supported by a citation which demonstrates how the activities of the individual relate to the purpose of the award.

An excellent citation should include:

• Details of how the nominee has made a personal impact through volunteering for the Royal Society of Chemistry
• Details of how the nominee stands out from our wider volunteer community
• The RSC has many volunteers. Your citation should demonstrate why you think the nominee is considered exceptional relative to other volunteers.

Citations should not include references to academic achievements or paid work. While we value the roles that members hold through other organisations and within their communities, this award is established to recognise the volunteering contribution made to the RSC. As such, we do not/will not consider the contributions of roles such as school governor etc. as part of the judging process.

Judging process

The Chair of our Member Communities Board will convene a panel to make recommendations to the Board. Based on panel discussions, the Chair of the panel will make recommendations to the Board.

History of the prize

Our Awards for Exceptional Service were established in 1981 in order to recognise volunteers who have made a personal impact to the Royal Society of Chemistry by contributing through a variety of volunteer positions.