The biennial NDSA Excellence Awards were established in 2012 to recognize and encourage exemplary achievement in the field of digital preservation stewardship at a level of national or international importance. Over the years many individuals, projects, and organizations have been honored for their meaningful contributions to the field of digital preservation.
The time has come again to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of our colleagues!
Nominations are accepted in five categories (individuals, educators, future stewards, projects, organizations, or sustainability activities) which are described on the NDSA Excellence Awards’ webpage. Selecting a category that best suits a nominee is the first step in preparing a nomination. From there a nominator must describe what makes the nominee’s work exemplary. Last year, the former Excellence Awards Working Group co-chair, Kari May, wrote a blog post providing some ideas and insights for writing a notable nomination. Some of the suggestions include highlighting:
- Firsts: this could be work to produce new tools, workflows, methods, or strategies for preserving digital material.
- A new angle on the known: this could be work that offers updated guidance on preservation formats or other typical good practices, updated tools, or research that provides new insights.
- Hot topics: this could be work that connects digital preservation practices with topics such as environmental sustainability.
- Widespread impact: this could be work that has a positive impact to a significant portion of the field of digital preservation
We encourage you to take a look at the full blog post for more suggestions and nominate a notable colleague, organization, or project today!
Nominations can be submitted using the 2025 NDSA Excellence Awards Nominations form until June 23, 2025.
