The following are the requirements for nominations for the annual NCGS Awards. Please make sure you understand and follow the criteria before submitting a nomination. Send any questions to aw****@*********gy.org.
GENERAL POLICIES
- North Carolina focus. Awards must focus on North Carolina genealogy, North Carolina history, North Carolina family groups, or individuals who have made an impact on North Carolina research.
- Sources. For published materials, either print, online, or video, sources must be provided for information presented as facts.
- Copyright. Any images or copyrighted materials must be credited.
- Number of awards. NCGS retains the option of presenting more than one award in any given category, or not giving an award at all.
- Award Category. Works will be judged only based on the nominated award category. If for example a book is submitted for a website award, it will be disqualified. A specific work must only be submitted for one award category each year. If we receive more than one nomination for the same work in a given year it will be disqualified.
Note that the above polices to not apply to The Award for History Biography. Winners of that award are determined based on criteria set and judged by National History Day, not NCGS.
CONTENT MUST BE CURRENT
- Books and publications must have been published within the eighteen months preceding the end of the nominating period.
- Online resources must have significant new content added within the eighteen months preceding the end of the nominating period.
- Journal articles must have been published within the eighteen months preceding the end of the nominating period.
REPEAT AWARDS
- For “The Helen F. M. Leary Award for Outstanding Contribution to North Carolina Genealogy,” a person is only eligible to win once as this is an award for longtime contributions.
- A given book title or journal article is only eligible to win once.
- In all other categories, a person/organization will be eligible again for consideration three years after they have won the same award. For online resources, there must be a significant change to the material in order to be considered.
CRITERIA FOR PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS BY A LOCAL SOCIETY
You must provide the latest 4 issues. If the issues are freely available on a website without requiring user registration, then you can use the online nomination form and provide the URLs for the 4 issues. Otherwise they must be mailed – see instructions on the Nomination Form.
Member and Society Information
The following information must be included and consistently located
- Officer list and contact information
- Upcoming Events (Newsletters only)
- Meeting times (Newsletters only)
- Membership information
- Procedure for submission of articles
- Website information
- Publications list (only if applicable)
Format
- Layout: well organized, creative
- Easy-to-read print: polished, professional
- Continuity and consistency through issues
- Visual appeal: clean, uncluttered
- Clear-cut headings/divisions between articles; running headlines for flowing multi-page articles
- Journals – In continuing series articles (especially when carried over from previous volumes): Does the introductory material repeat? Is there a reference to the previous article and to the initial article?
- Use of illustrations: balanced, well reproduced
- Ease of use: Table of Contents
- Index: full names, names of enslaved individuals, and place names
Content
- Focus should be on the county or area the society represents
- Readability
- Editing: spelling, grammar, and punctuation
- Queries: if included, policy and procedure for submitting
- Online presentation of newsletters – The website URL is hyperlinked so that newsletter issues can be accessed with the click of a mouse. Within the online version, are all website URLs hyperlinked?
- Journals – Balance of articles (variety)
- Case studies
- Abstracts, transcriptions, or extracts
- Instructional articles: research methods and practices
- Memories of family members and community residents
- Journals – Introductory material for each article
- Record/records used, background of the record source, and location of originals
- Explanation of entries, abbreviations used
- Consistent contact information for contributors of articles
CRITERIA FOR BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS RELEVANT TO NORTH CAROLINA GENEALOGY
See instructions on the Nomination Form on where to mail books.
Physical appearance
- Layout: creative, easy to follow
- Easy-to-read print: polished, professional
- Visual appeal: clean, uncluttered
Ease of use
- An explanation of entries and abbreviations used
- Table of contents
Value to researcher
- An index with full names, names of enslaved people, and place names; in Abstracts, a reference to a specific entry or to a page number
- Illustrations should be balanced and well reproduced
- Maps when applicable or helpful, such as locations of cemeteries or county maps with waterways
Additional Criteria for Family Histories
- Incorporation of biographical information about individuals, not just a “list of begats”
- Use of original records, not just secondary information
- Honesty regarding facts presented
- Numbering systems explained; easy to follow
Additional Criteria for Abstracts and Transcriptions:
- An explanation of record/records used, background of the record source, and location of originals
- Level of difficulty: How much detail of the record is included? How much work was involved in producing the work?
CRITERIA FOR PUBLISHED NCGS JOURNAL ARTICLE
- An explanation of entries and abbreviations used
- Illustrations should be balanced and well reproduced
- Quality illustrations, images, and maps are included when application or helpful
- Use of original records, not just secondary information
- An explanation of record/records used, background of the record source, and location of originals
- Information is presented in a cogent and logical manner
CRITERIA FOR ONLINE RESOURCE (WEBSITES, BLOGS, SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES)
- The resource should be freely available, although member-only content is permitted for societies. Required user registration is permitted as long as it is free.
- Design should be welcoming, clean, uncluttered
- Site navigation should be easy and intuitive
- The main focus should be counties, regions, or topics that pertain to North Carolina
- Society websites should follow the same criteria as Society Periodicals
- The information must be kept current
- Easy access to archived information, if applicable
- The information makes the visitor want to return
- URLs should have working hyperlinks, both internal and external
- Blogs must be written or compiled by one individual or genealogical group
- Social media pages/groups may be operated by multiple administrators or a genealogy group
CRITERIA FOR ONLINE RESOURCE (VIDEO)
- The video should be freely available on the internet. Required user registration is permitted as long as it is free.
- The video must be a minimum of 15 minutes long.
- The video should have a descriptive title along with text that clearly describes the content and audience.
- The main focus should be counties, regions, or topics that pertain to North Carolina.
- The overall quality of the video and audio is part of the criteria. Issues like excessive background noise, focus, jumpy cameras, etc. will negatively impact judging.
CRITERIA FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO NCGS
- This award is open to anyone who has made a significant contribution to NCGS and its mission, regardless of whether they are a board member, staff member (including paid contractors), or other volunteer. It may not be given to organizations.
- To be considered, board and staff members must have continuously held some position within NCGS for at least 3 years, and performed above and beyond the requirements of their position(s). This requirement does not apply to volunteers who are not directly part of or paid by NCGS.
- In the event that both a volunteer and a board/staff member are judged to be worthy of this award, each may receive an award.
CRITERIA FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO NC GENEALOGY
- This award may be given to individuals or organizations
- A person/organization is only eligible to win this award once since it is for lifetime contributions.