IPMS/USA Regional Award Criteria

An Opinion by Mike Mackowski

Each year, the IPMS/USA Executive Board is pleased to present several Special Achievement awards at the annual National Convention. The award cycle covers the calendar year period from January 1 through the end of December of year. Regional Coordinators select a Regional recipient for the Chapter of the Year Award, the Newsletter of the Year Award, and the Webmaster of the Year Award, and those winners become that Region’s nominees for the national awards. These regional winners are provided to the IPMS/USA Executive Board by the Director of Local Chapters and the winning Chapter for each award is selected by a vote of the Board. Note that at the regional level there is only a “chapter of the year” award. The other two are just nominations for the national award that gets passed along.

All nominations for all awards are due to the Director of Local Chapters (dlc@ipmsusa.org) no later than March 15th of the current year.

This Regional Coordinator (Mike Mackowski) prefers to have chapters nominate themselves for these awards. The most consideration will be given to nominations that address each criteria and give specific examples of what their club does in each topic area.

A summary of the selection criteria is provided below.

Chapter of the Year

The criteria considered for selection includes but is not limited to:
•    Chapters that PROMOTE both the plastic modeling hobby and our Society. 
•    Chapters with a high percentage of IPMS/USA national members
•    Chapters that provide SERVICE to their communities.
•    Chapters that have regular meetings and frequent activities (make ‘n takes, contests, displays, etc.)
•    Have consistently demonstrated support of, and cooperation with IPMS/USA National and Regional efforts.

Newsletter Editor of the Year

This annual award is presented to the IPMS/USA chapter and editor of the newsletter than best exemplifies the goals and spirit of IPMS/USA. The criteria considered for selection includes but is not limited to:
•    The editor should be a current IPMS member and will be so at the time of the presentation of the award which takes place at the National Convention
•    The layout and design should result in good readability, correct grammar and spelling.
•    Promotion of IPMS/USA National Membership
•    Inclusion of a list of local officers and contact information
•    Timely and regular publication schedule and ease of access (on club website, for example)

Website of the Year

This annual award is presented to the webmaster whose chapter website best exemplifies the goals and spirit of IPMS/USA. The criteria considered for selection includes but is not limited to:
•    The webmaster should be a current IPMS member and will be so at the time of the presentation of the award which takes place at the National Convention
•    The layout should result in ease of navigation, with a professional design, and no broken links
•    Promotion of IPMS/USA National Membership
•    Inclusion of a list of local officers and contact information
•    Timely and regular updates with fresh and accurate content
•    Features which encourage modelers to visit the website and encourage modelers to join the local chapter and join IPMS/USA.


John Noack Comments (Director of Local Chapters) from 2016

1.  Chapter outreach - what does the chapter do to attract new members?  Mall shows, contests, publicity, linking up with a LHS, flyers, etc.
2. Chapter engagement - what do the officers and members of the chapter do to keep the interest level high and get members to attend meetings?  Show and tell, build events, road trips, speakers, displays at venues and events.
3. Leadership - What does the chapter leadership do to go the "extra mile" and keep its' members participating?
4.  Engagement with other chapters and with national organization - discounts for National members, cross-chapter events, joint hosting of a contest, etc.


Thanks,

Mike Mackowski
Region 10 Coordinator
March 2013
Updated March 2015
Updated March 2016