NASFAA State Awards recognize individual state associations of student financial aid administrators for outstanding projects that contribute to the financial aid profession and other groups. The intent of the award is to encourage creative and innovative service to individuals or groups of individuals who are directly or indirectly involved in student financial aid.

Award Categories

In each of four categories, one award will be given for the project that is judged best to provide:

• Service to the Financial Aid Profession;
• Service to Students, Parents, or Families;
• Service to Other Constituencies, e.g., legislators, other institutional administrators, secondary school counselors, etc; and
• Service to Advance the Goals of Access and Diversity.

A selected state association receive a $500 award and a display banner to reside permanently with the state association. Award presentation takes place annually at NASFAA's Conference. There may be a category of Honorable Mention to allow meritorious projects not receiving formal awards to receive appropriate recognition. The Awards Committee reserves the right to adjust the number of Honorable Mention awards based upon the quality of projects submitted. Submission of a project indicates that the state grants permission for NASFAA to publish information for members to use for their own state associations or institutions.

• For any project to be submitted by the state association, the project must have been initiated, implemented, and evaluated by the state association within the last two years.
• An evaluation of the project must be conducted by the state association and included with the application.
• Ongoing projects will be considered, but only if a full cycle of activity that allows for thorough evaluation has been completed.
• States designate the award category in which they are submitting the project. The Awards Committee reserves the right to move projects to a different award category, as needed.
• All state associations of student financial aid administrators that are recognized as such by NASFAA are eligible to participate in the competition.
• All projects must be submitted electronically using the Web application.
• Multiple submissions from the same state association will be accepted.
• Projects submitted in one year will not be considered in subsequent years from the same state association unless the project has been modified significantly to improve effectiveness.
• Projects that are based on NASFAA-developed materials will not be considered.
• The Awards Committee reserves the right to eliminate projects that do not meet these guidelines.

Projects are evaluated by NASFAA's Awards Committee. Each project receives equal consideration regardless of the size of the state. An evaluation system weighs the following criteria.

• Originality: The project reflects a new idea or a creative and innovative approach to an old idea. (25 points) You may wish to review the list of prior submissions on the NASFAA Web site.
• Applicability to other states.  The concept or project can be duplicated or transferred to other states and/or regions easily and at reasonable cost. (25 points)
• Impact on student financial aid.  The project has the potential to make a real difference in the financial aid/higher education arena. The project furthers the goals, purposes, and objectives of student financial aid.  (25 points)
• Fulfillment of project objectives.  The project succeeded in accomplishing the stated objective and purpose. (25 points)

The completed application includes the Web application, a narrative explanation of the project, detailed evaluation, and any exhibits necessary to fully demonstrate the project.

• All project materials must be submitted electronically to awards@nasfaa.org.
• If accompanying materials cannot be submitted electronically, please contact awards@nasfaa.org with complete details so that alternative arrangements can be reviewed.
• Submissions will not be returned.
• Applications and materials must be received in the NASFAA office by February 27, 2009.

Please note that late entries and projects that do not conform to application specifications will not be considered.

Recipients