The National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) is an organization with a diverse international membership sharing a commitment to digital stewardship and preservation. Its Excellence Awards Working Group (EAWG) is just as diverse and just as committed. Since 2012 this team has come together to select awardees who have offered their significant engagement with the theory and practice of long-term digital preservation stewardship at a level of national or international importance. EAWG members understand the importance of innovation and risk-taking in the developing successful digital preservation tools and activities. This means that excellent digital stewardship can take many forms; therefore, eligibility for these awards has been left purposely broad. 

I started as a member of the EAWG in 2019 and took part in discussions that led to the group’s move to presenting awards biennially in the odd-numbered years, to interleave them with the Digital Preservation Coalition’s Digital Preservation Awards. I have been co-chairing the group since January 2023, and, although the timing for awards may have changed, our standards have not. Any person, any institution, or any project meeting the criteria for any of the Excellence Awards’ six categories can be nominated. Neither nominators nor nominees need to be NDSA members or to be affiliated with member institutions. Self-nomination is accepted and encouraged, as are submissions reflecting responses to the needs or accomplishments of historically marginalized and underrepresented communities. It is truly inspiring to receive the nominations each year and learn about exciting work that is happening in the field of digital stewardship and preservation that we may never have known about otherwise.

Screenshot of spreadsheet for reviewing nominations.
Basic spreadsheet shared by Excellence Awards Working Group members to review, discuss, and select awardees.

Award categories are: Individual, Educator, Future Steward, Organization, Project, and Sustainability. The criteria for each category specified on the EAWG webpage will help nominators select the “big bucket” their nominations will best fit, and every nomination must support the specific contributions named with evidence of their significance. Yet individual nominations focus on individual efforts. So, what can a nominator include to encourage EAWG members to recognize the importance of the nominee’s contributions? Let’s look at a few things that can help a nomination stand out.

 

  • Firsts
    • Efforts producing—or even on their way to producing—something absolutely fresh for the field of digital stewardship are worth nominating. This could be work to produce new tools, connections, workflows, methods, strategies, and more. Nominations for the new developments could offer information showing such aspects as: how this output is new; why it is notably original; what its impact or expected impact will be; and what potential it will have for widespread use. Past nominations have included phrases such as “facilitate the creation of a field that is easier, kinder, smarter, and faster,” “establish tangible solutions to put into practice,” “drawing on the collective experience of those in the field,” and “open resources that have been created and shared.”
  • A New Angle on the Known
    • Another perspective on fresh outputs is that of rethinking the known. This work could offer updated preservation formats, updated tools, or even an enhancement  for providing access or enhancing discoverability. Nominations for such work could offer information evidencing: how this update is an improvement; why it is important to the field; what benefit it will provide; and how wide a range of digital stewards can implement it. Nominations for this type of work have included phrases like: “re-thinking this for the next generation,” “ensuring the outputs were shared with the greater community and not created within an academic silo,” “advance future generations of digital stewards,” and “enhancing tools and standards our field has used for decades.”
  • Hot Topics
    • Significant work being done in areas of high interest to the digital stewardship and preservation communities is certainly worth nominating. Recently, such areas of interest have included DEI initiatives, study on the environmental impact of digital stewardship, and the use of artificial intelligence. Nominations reflecting efforts in such areas have incorporated aspects including: multidisciplinary connections, research and training methodologies, the promotion of integrating diverse perspectives, and strategies to increase awareness of a specific digital preservation challenge. Such efforts have been described as “uplifting while educating,” “improving experience for new digital preservationists through work on documentation, information-sharing, and tools development,” and “actively seeks out venues to spread the message.”
  • Widespread Impact
    • Another type of work worthy of nominating is that which will bring a positive impact to a significant portion of the field of digital stewardship. This impact will often include the characteristics of recognized reusability or adaptability and could be seen via open access to code, guides to a topic or practice, or policies that were developed. It could possibly be achieved through outreach activities or collaborations. Nominations describing such work have noted details such as: “demystifying often-challenging material required for working in digital preservation,” “bolsters others offering leadership and growth opportunities,” “informs digital preservation best practices,” “shaped the design and implementation of open-source software,” and “engaged with the preservation community as speakers, writers, and collaborators.”

These are just a few suggestions on nominating your colleagues and their work. There are certainly more areas, perspectives, and outputs that could be recognized. For more ideas, links to announcements for past winners can be found at the bottom of the Excellence Awards Working Group webpage. Remember, there is no perfect nomination expected by the EAWG. All submissions are received, reviewed, and discussed by all group members equally. Working group members realize that this is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our colleagues, and the selection has never been easy. Yet during my time with the group, we have ensured that no final selection has been solidified without the unanimous support of the members.

The EAWG will be seeking nominations again next year. Until then, we will be offering other blogs and video clips to help digital stewards and preservationists better understand our work. We also hope this information will encourage them to nominate their colleagues or themselves. We look forward to your submissions! 

Written by Kari May, Excellence Awards Working Group, Co-Chair

 

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