The following information is provided to assist councils in completing their applications.  Please follow all instructions carefully to ensure the opportunity to receive full credit.

General: 

• The 2013 Assessment & Awards Program concerns only events that occur between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012.
• Students are expected to do all the work related to preparing the application(s), and to accurately represent the work of their council. Successful advision of the Awards & Assessment Program includes providing tips, offering suggestions, helping students make meaning of past years' feedback, connecting students with support from AFLV if necessary, challenging students to work in advance, and reviewing the application before submission. Note that cover pages not signed by the council advisor will incur a deduction.
• Remember that awards submissions are reviewed and scored by someone who does not know your council and was not there as you achieved each criterion. Keeping in mind that your entry should be user friendly for someone who is unfamiliar with your campus and your council will help you produce a more successful entry.
• Only events or activities sponosred and implemented by the council officers with advisement from the campus advisor and NOT events sponsored solely by an administrative officer (except as specifically designated in awards criteria) will be considered.
• Councils only need to submit one copy of each notebook.
• All awards entries must be retrieved by the council at the regional conferences. A retrieval time will be noted in the councils registration packet. Entries not claimed at the end of the conference will be discarded.
• In cases of programming jointly sponsored by two or more councils applying for awards, it is understood that items provided for supporting documentation may be very similar. However, answers to descriptive questions must be unique to each council; duplicate narrative answers will not be considered.
• Becauese not all councils submit applications in all categories, similar criteria statements or descriptive questions may appear in more than one category.

Using the PDF Portfolio: 

• Begin by opening the application packet and immediately saving it to your computer with a file name you choose. This is the version of the file to complete and submit. If you skip this step, your response will not save in the PDF form.
• Note that all categories are found within the same portfolio. Use the menu on the left to select the applications you would like to complete.
• The cover page form must be completed and inserted as the first page in every binder your council submits - both the program entry notebook and every documentation notebook.

About the Program Entry Notebook:

• Each council must submit one Program Entry Notebook.
• The Program Entry Notebook must begin with a completed and signed cover page.
• The Program Entry Notebook will contain only a cover page and the completed awards applications.
• If the council is applying in more than one category, category applications must be inserted in alphabetical order and separated by tabbed divider pages.
• Each tabbed divider page must be labeled with the category name.
• The Program Entry Notebook may be a 3-ring binder or other securely bound volume. (Paper clips, staples, and pocket folders are not securely bound volumes.)

Assembling the Program Entry Notebook:

• There is a criteria form (application) for each of the PEA categories. Each form contains a series of statements and descriptive questions designed to highlight an excellent council initiative or program.
• Read every criteria statement and descriptive question very carefully.
• Respond to every criteria statement and descriptive statement exactly according to the instructions provided. Clearly reference the location of supporting document on the documentation line(s).
• There are three possible answers to each criteria statement: Yes (can be indicated with an X), No (can be indicated by leaving a blank) or NA (not applicable). The appropriate response should be indicated on the line to the left of the statement number.
• If the response to a criteria statement is yes, provide the documentation and move to the next question.
• If the response is no, move to the next question. Do not provide any additional information.
• If the criteria is not applicable to the council, write NA on the line to the left of the statement and place a clearly typed explanation in the Documentation Notebook along with supporting documentation that directly supports the council's rationale. If it is a descriptive question that is not applicable, simply use the narrative to explain the rationale and add supporting documentation as usual.

About the Documentation Notebook(s):

•  Nearly every criteria statement on the awards applications requires documentation. All of this supporting documents is placed in the Documentation Notebook(s).
• It's recommended that councils submit separate documentation binders for each category application. If the amount of documentation does not require separate notebooks, categories must be separated by tabbed divider pages.
• Documentation Notebooks must be 3-ring binders. Please do not overfill the binders; Overstuffed binders nearly always come apart during shipping and the awards committee may not be able to reassemble the contents. In this case, the documentation cannot be considered.
• The Documentation Notebook is the only place to provide supporting documents and narrative responses. Examples of supporting documents are: meeting minutes or agendas, thank you letters, photos, news articles, printed programs, program fliers, program evaluations, and so on.
• Documentation must provide evidence that programs were planned AND implemented.
• Joint programming and collaboration is encouraged. However, documentation must clearly portray the level of involvement of the council, and that level of involvement should be equal to or greater than that of co-sponsors.
• Documentation for all responses is required in order to receive full credit. Some questions include directions about what constitutes documentation. Materially specifically requested must be included to receive full credit for the response.
• Members of the Awards Committee have a limited amount of time to locate documentation. If the Documentation Notebook is not well organized, committee members may not be able to locate the necessary information or give full credit for a response.

Assembling the Program Entry Notebook:

• Every Documentation Notebook must begin with a completed and signed cover page.
• The order of the supporting documentation should correspond with the order of the Program Entry Notebook.
• The documentation line below a criteria statement on the awards application (located in the Program Entry Notebook) should correspond direclty with the page number of the relevant documentation.
• Documentation pages must be numbered. (e.g. Academic Achievement documentation for #1 on the awards application is numbered AA-1.)