Purpose:
The national awards information can be found at the National Cooperative Extension Awards website.
Process:
Nominations must be submitted online by May 1, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
The ECOP Excellence in Extension Awards Selection Committee reviews nominations during the months of May and June and winners should know the outcome of the process by July 31.
The winner receives a cash award from the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) and an engraved award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The winning program will be recognized during the NIFA and Board on Agricultural Assembly Awards Program at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) Annual Meeting in November. A travel stipend for one winner (or team leader) is typically provided by NIFA.
A summary of the work is released to the media in autumn and published in APLU’s Food and Agricultural Sciences Excellence in College and University Awards Program: A Community of Scholars Honoring Excellence.
The winner is expected to submit impact statements to the national impact database (landgrantimpacts.org). The winner’s institution also agrees to assist the Extension Foundation in the production of a 3–5 minute video of the winner that will be posted on ECOP website.
Who is Eligible?
An individual Cooperative Extension professional (state, regional and/or county) or a team of professionals from the land-grant universities listed here may be nominated. An Extension professional is defined as having at least 50 percent EFT/FTE university appointment in Extension as of May 1 of the year of nomination. NOTE: Administrative EFT/FTE are not eligible.
The National Excellence in Extension Team Award recognizes a team of 3 or more people, composed of at least 1 state, county, or regional Extension professional and formed by 2 or more Land-grant Universities, the team works to advance Extension’s research, technical assistance, and outreach education mission and demonstrate accomplishments and evidence of impact within the last 3 years.
Criteria for Nominations
The criteria and nomination process for national ECOP awards can be found at the National Cooperative Extension Awards website.