Awards & Assessment Application Instructions

Do & Don't

As a supplment to the Application Instructions, the following hints and tips are provided to assist councils in submitted the best entry possible. These tips have been compiled during the past 10+ years by awards judges, council advisors, and AFLV staff members.

DO:

Use screen shots of relevant web-based pages as documentation.
Provide sound rationale for NA responses. If the council has made a conscious decision not to address the criteria, state this. If the council cannot address it because of campus restrictions, limitations, or resources, please explain.
Highlight significant information in a piece of documentation that includes a lot of text.
Be sure documentation such as governing documents that will be referenced often include a header/footer indicating what the document is, when it was last updated, and when it was last ratified.
Insert a piece of documentation that is specifically requested every time it is requested, in the proper place.
Have someone who is not a member of your council review the entry to ensure they can find each piece of documentation by using your Program Entry Notebook as a guide. If this person can't find it, a judge probably can't either.
Ensure that all narrative responses are typed.
Clearly label everything.
Pack the awards entry carefully for shipping. Using a box that is too big means binders will jostle and likely lose pages.
Ship awards in advance and use a service that provides a tracking number. Confirm that the entry has receached the destination in advance of the deadline.
Think in terms of proof. Ask yourself, "does this documentation prove we met this criteria?"

DON'T:

include copies of campus reports, statistical data, or fact sheets in addition to or in lieu of the cover page.
retype the criteria form. Use the form as provided on this website. All form fields can be typed in using Adobe Reader.
include a complete set of governing documents (copy of the constitution, bylaws, etc. every time the document needs to be referenced.
include supporting documents or narrative responses in the Program Entry Notebok.
include documentation material unless it is in support of a response to a specific criteria statement or descriptive question or has been specifically requested. Extra documentation may hurt a council's score if it keeps the judges from finding the right information efficiently.
copy and paste segments of governing documents or policies on to a separate page for documentation purposes. Judges have no way of knowing if this is the real policy or one the council created for the applicaton. Instead, use the full page from the original document and highlight the pertinent information.
include website addresses as documentation; judges won't have internet access as they're reviewing your application.
assume a flier announcing an event is proof the event actually happened.