Award Committees
The ACS National Awards Program process is supported by two types of committees that assist the Society in selecting outstanding chemical professionals for each award: Canvassing Committees and Selection Committees.
Canvassing Committees
The canvassing committee identifies potential new nominees and arranges for their nomination.
- An award should have a canvassing committee if it has had eight or fewer total nominees for two successive years.
- The canvassing committee is assigned at the next cycle until the award remains above eight nominees for at least two successive years.
- Prior to the annual solicitation of nominations, canvassing committee members are approved by the ACS National Awards Advisory Board and appointed to each of the canvassing committees for a term of three award cycles by the ACS Board Chair.
- Service on a canvassing committee in no way renders the committee member ineligible to nominate or to be nominated for the award.
Selection Committees
Selection committees are chemical professionals appointed to the committee to determine the recipient for each award.
- Members of the selection committee must be members of the Society.
- Each selection committee consists of five appointed members, each of whom serves for three award cycles, with the exception of the Roger Adams Award in Organic Chemistry, which has a selection committee consisting of seven members.
- Selection committee members are approved by the ACS National Awards Advisory Board and appointed by the ACS Board Chair.
- The names of selection committee members are confidential.
- During their time on the selection committee, selection committee members may not submit a nomination, provide a letter of support for a nomination, or be a nominated for the award for which they are serving as a selection committee member.
- Selection committee members may submit other nominations or support letters or be nominated for awards for which they are not serving as a selection committee member.
- The recipients of the Award for Volunteer Service to the American Chemical Society, the Charles Lathrop Parsons Award, and the Priestley Medal are selected by members of the ACS Board Committee on Professional & Member Relations (P&MR) and the ACS Board of Directors.
