On behalf of the Society of American Archivists Distinguished Service Award Committee, we invite you to submit nominations for the 2026 award. Please feel free to share this message with your organization and membership.
Please see the following announcement for more information.
Society of American Archivists
Distinguished Service Award
Do you know of an organization or program that has made an outstanding contribution to the archival profession? Consider nominating them for the Society of American Archivists Distinguished Service Award.
The Distinguished Service Award recognizes an archival institution, education program, nonprofit organization, or government organization that has provided outstanding service to its public and has made an exemplary contribution to the archival profession. The institution being nominated should have achieved distinction in one or more of the following ways:
- Demonstrably contributing to archival theory and the development of new archival practice;
- Serving its constituency in an outstanding fashion;
- Showing extraordinary ingenuity and resourcefulness in improving efficiency of operations or methods of work;
- Going well beyond the normal performance requirements expected of an archival agency and thus providing a model for others; and/or
- Developing over a period of years an archives program of such depth and scope as to warrant special recognition.
Eligibility:
Any archival institution, archival organization, records center, or manuscript repository, archival education program, or nonprofit or government organization providing service or support to the archival community in North America.
Nomination Requirements
In addition to a completed nomination form, each nomination must include three letters of support, of which at least two are from SAA members, each representing a different institution. Self-nominations are accepted and encouraged.
Click here to preview the nomination form and/or to start a nomination. All nominations must be submitted by February 28, 2026.
