Nomination Deadline: Friday, March 8, 2024 – 5:00 pm, Pacific Time
The PURPOSE of the Western Extension Directors Association (WEDA) Awards of Excellence is to recognize Extension outreach educational programming that has achieved outstanding accomplishments, results and impacts in addressing contemporary issues in one or more of the 13 states and 4 territories, who’s institutions are WEDA members. It is anticipated that recipients of the award will include mature programs with documented impacts.
WEDA AWARDS:
For 2024 the WEDA Excellence in Extension Programming Awards are:
- Excellence in Extension Programming – Individual. Prize $500.00
- Excellence in Extension Programming – Multidisciplinary Team (within a single or multistate/territory setting). Prize – $500.00 (Team to determine distribution of $500.00.)
The WEDA Excellence in Extension Programming awards may be given annually to recognize up to a total of two programs which represent the work of an individual or multidisciplinary team within a single or multistate/territory setting. If warranted, at least one of the two awards will be given to a multistate/territory program. An Honorable Mention award(s) may be granted, if deemed warranted by the review committee.
WHAT IS A PROGRAM? For the purposes of the WEDA Awards of Excellence, the following definition will be used: An Extension program is a group or series of presentations, workshops, functions, demonstrations or other events and activities that form a comprehensive outreach education curriculum, methodology or process that facilitates learning in volunteer audiences over time through the adoption and application of new knowledge and skills. For example, a conference developed and offered to address nutrition needs for teens would be an event rather than a program. The conference, however, may be one of many components that make up an Extension Teen Nutrition Program.
APPLICATIONS: WEDA Awards of Excellence applications should be submitted only for programs as defined above. Applications may be submitted only by Extension Directors from states/territories that are members in good standing of the Western Extension Directors Association. Previous WEDA Award of Excellence winning programs cannot be resubmitted. Programs nominated for WEDA Awards of Excellence, but not selected, can be resubmitted for future consideration, including those recognized as Honorable Mention. Applications must address Criteria 1-7 in three pages or less in length using font size 11 or larger in a Word document. A fourth page may be used as a brief bibliography to cite the key references used in developing and enhancing the program (see criteria #3). Applications should be written so that a reader totally unfamiliar with the program will have a reasonably good understanding of the program and its impacts. Anyone may recommend potential awardees by completing and submitting an application package to their Extension Director. Self-nominations are appropriate. All applications must be submitted by the nominee’s Extension Director to be accepted for consideration. Directors may submit up to two program submissions per state/territory per year. Applications will be managed, reviewed, rated and recommended for the WEDA Award of Excellence by the Western Extension Program Leadership Committee. See Application Format below.
ABOUT MULTISTATE/TERRITORY APPLICATIONS: Programs designed and delivered to address issues in multiple states/territories are strongly encouraged. Applications for multistate/territory awards are required to describe the characteristics of the partnership by including the following: 1) identify collaborating faculty/staff from participating institutions, 2) describe the role of each participant in the collaboration, and 3) characterize the relative contribution of each participant as a percentage of the entire effort (so that the sum of all contributions is 100%). Multistate/territory applications may attach one additional page to describe the characteristics of the partnership. One multistate/territory program may be submitted by each Director in addition to their two state/territory programs, however, a state/territory may be included in an additional multistate/territory application that is submitted by a Director from a partnering state/territory. The Director submitting a multistate/territory program is encouraged to inform the other states/territories that are partnering on the program.
COVER PAGE: Please include the name of the program; the institution submitting the application (lead institution if multistate/territory); the name, title, address, phone, fax and email of the contact person for the program; a brief abstract (no more than 150 words) of the program; and if it is a team or multistate/territory application, list those collaborating on the cover page, and the names, titles and locations of the team members as part of the characteristics of the partnership.
See Cover Page format at the end of this document.
CRITERIA AND FORMAT FOR USE IN DEVELOPING AND RATING APPLICATIONS:
Please use this application format to address the seven categories presented below. Applications should address as many of the seven criteria as apply to the program, but should not address non-relevant criteria. Please note that all criteria are not equally weighted.
- ISSUE & SITUATION: Presents clearly the needs/situation of the issue addressed. Why is the issue important and what was the situation prior to the implementation of the program (10 points)?
- STAKEHOLDERS & INPUT: Identifies audiences/customers/stakeholders, and clearly describes the process(es) used to obtain their input into program development and implementation. Who does the program target, and how was their input obtained (10 points)?
- EXTENSION FOCUS & RESEARCH BASE: Emphasizes the Cooperative Extension outreach education focus of the program, identifying the key research and/or experiential learning upon which the program is based. (Explain what was done). A brief bibliography citing key references used in developing the program should be listed on page 4, if needed (10 points).
- MULTIDISCIPLINARY & COLLABORATIVE COMPONENTS: Presents the key multidisciplinary components and collaborations/partnerships needed for success of the program. Explains the role of each to the program. Do not just list disciplines, collaborators and partnerships without a statement of why/how they were important to the program (10 points).
- INNOVATIVE APPROACHES: Describes innovative approach(es) used to effectively address the issue. Clearly explains why the approach, method, program, etc., is viewed as innovative. Note: While innovation is strongly encouraged, and will be considered in the ratings, all program proposals submitted that show significant impacts/outcomes/results will be considered for an award (15 points).
- IMPACTS ACHIEVED: Identifies the evaluation methods used and clearly presents the significant impacts, outcomes and results achieved by the program in addressing the issue (30 points).
- SCHOLARLY PRODUCTS DEVELOPED: Presents the scholarly products developed for use by Extension clientele and peers in support of the program. Scholarly products developed may include, but are not limited to journal articles, magazine articles, education manuals, fact sheets, new curricula, new web sites, video and other digital technology, news articles, or other methods of dissemination (15 points).
AWARD PRESENTATION: The WEDA Awards of Excellence will be presented to the recipient(s) at the Western Joint Summer Meeting in June 2022, which includes the Western Extension Directors, Experiment Station Directors, Agriculture Deans, Academic Program Leaders, and Council on Agriculture Research, Extension and Teaching. The award recipients(s) will have an opportunity to give a brief seminar during the award presentation. Winners will be asked to provide a photo and abstract of their presentation for inclusion in the Awards brochure.
SUBMISSION INFORMATION AND DUE DATE:
Each application must include, as presented above: cover page, information addressing criteria 1-5, references used, and must be submitted by the state/territory Extension Director. Only electronic submissions of the application will be accepted. The due date for all submissions is 5:00 p.m. (Pacific Time), Friday, March 8, 2024. Send the electronic application to Dr. Ed Martin’s assistant Kelly Montez at kellymontez@arizona.edu with WEDA Award Application in the subject line. Phone: 520-621-7145
A confirmed received reply from Kelly will be sent back to you within 48 hours of receipt.
APPLICATION FORMAT
2024 Western Extension Directors Association Awards of Excellence
Please use the following format in preparing your application:
- Cover Page
- Criteria (no more than 3 pages)
- Issue and Situation
- Stakeholders and Input
- Extension Focus and Research Base
- Multidisciplinary and Collaborative Components
- Innovative Approaches
- Impacts Achieved
- Scholarly Products Developed
- Brief Bibliography of References Used
- Characteristics of Multistate Partnership (for multistate projects only)
COVER PAGE FORMAT
2024 Western Extension Directors Association Awards of Excellence
Name of Program
Name of Institution Submitting the Application (indicate if program is Multistate)
Name of Contact Person for Program Being Submitted
Title of the Contact Person
Complete Mailing Address
Telephone Number; Fax Number
E-mail address
Abstract (no more than 150 words):
Name of Team Members, Titles and Locations