Awards Forms

Instructions on completing Award Form

1. Officers Name: Print the full name of the Commissioned Officer being nominated as it is on record with the Officers'' official personnel file. This will be printed on the certificate.
2. Entry on Duty Date: Print exact date of original entry on duty, (mm/dd/yyyy)
3. PHS Rank: Rank of officer being nominated, Use (capital O, example O-2) not zero 0.
4. PHS Professional Category: Print nominated officers category, i.e. (Engineer, Medical)
5. PHS Serial Number: Print the correct PHS Serial Number of Officer being nominated.
6. Current Organization: Print current organization Officer is stationed at, i.e. (DHHS/IHS/Phoenix Area/ PIMC or DHHS/IHS/Navajo Area/Ft. Defiance).
7. Organizational Title or Position: Print current title of Officer being nominated that is used with the Commissioned Corps system, find title on current orders. Do not use civil service position.
8. Proposed Award: Print the type of award Officer is being nominated for.
9. Period Covered: Print the time period dates the Officer is being nominated for, i.e. (From: mm/yyyy TO: mm/yyyy) Do not use the word Present, use only dates. Time frame end date must fall within 13 month cut off date.
10. Cited for: Print a synopsis of specific achievement for which the officer is being nominated for, must be 25 words or less, should match synopsis in narrative.
11. Nominator: Print name of nominator along with title and obtain signature with date. A nominator can be an immediate supervisor of nominee, or a management official, a co-worker, or someone outside the Public Health Service who may have knowledge of the accomplishment being recognized. If nominator is immediate supervisor or Service Unit Director, they need to only sign here, also in comments section please print that nominator is also supervisor.
12. Supervisory/Line Authority: Print names of signatures and obtain signatures with endorsement and date. Recommended signatures include immediate supervisor and Service Unit Director (SUD) of the officer's duty station. If either one of these signatures is listed as the nominator do not list under "Supervisory Line Authority," but only under the "Nominator" section.
13. Page 2 of award form please have Awards Coordinator fill this information out.

Narrative Hints

Formatting the narrative:

1. 2 page maximum; 1"margins
2. No less than a 10 point font will be accepted, though 12 point is easier to read;
preferred fonts are courier, prestige, elite, Arial, or times new roman.
3. Use rank throughout (CAPT, CDR, and LCDR) - do not use "Dr.", "Ms.", and "Mr." Etc.
4. Use of bullets is strongly recommended, but not required.
5. Avoid highly technical language and superlatives (let the facts speak for themselves)
6. Avoid the use of future tenses (e.g., "will") for impacts.

Ways to improve the chances of success for a nomination:

1. Nominee should contribute to or write the narrative since they know the work and impact the best.
2. Make sure the citation in the narrative matches the "cited for" section of the form.
3. Be sure the citation includes the appropriate "key words" for the specific award (e.g., OSM nominations should include "for outstanding continuous leadership in"). There are 6 individual honor award levels for officers. The words in the narrative should be reflective of the words for the level of award, e.g., if the proposed award is an OSM for continuous outstanding leadership, then the text should focus on examples of leadership. It is suggested that you write the nomination first then decide the appropriate level of award.
4. Be sure that the "period covered" on the nomination form matches the dates in the narrative.
5. Ensure the specific role of the officer in the activity is clearly explained! Be sure to address any obstacles or difficulties the officer had to overcome and how the officer used his/her unique skills to address those barriers successfully.
6. Emphasize the public health impact of the activity. Consider including changes in morbidity/mortality, changes in transmission of disease, protection of workers, and examples of how better data influenced policy, etc.
7. Include specific information, especially quantitative information, whenever possible (avoid terms like some, many, etc.).
8. Use these types of terms: "established, founded, organized, chaired, provided leadership, led, developed a unique, implemented a major, essential, exemplary service, role model, motivated others to pursue excellence, negotiated with, used expertise following collaborative review of...".

Common reasons for having a nomination rejected:

1. The specific role of the officer is not clearly explained. It is not sufficient to say an officer led a project and then provide no further detail on what actually was involved.
2. The impact of the activity is not well described. (This is the most common mistake). Impact statements answer the question, "So what?"
3. The nomination is too technical.
4. Quantitative information is omitted.
5. The accomplishments and activities are not appropriate for the level of award.
6. The award appears to have overlap with a previous award with no explanation. Address the distinction between this award and a previous award if there is any chance it will be questioned as overlapping (for example if the one line on Part II of 6342 has any overlapping terminology with the current citation).