Nominate | Citation

Who deserves an honor?

Honors recognize and celebrate outstanding achievement. There are always fewer honors than people who deserve them. Because they are rare, they should be reserved for those who exemplify the best of a person, extraordinary and distinguished efforts and accomplishments:

Who have visioned, implemented, and accomplished extraordinary and practical achievements;
Whose work has brought distinction to County, Global Community, policing, and public safety, enhancing the reputation of their authority, government, country, and area or activity.

If you think your nominee demonstrates one or both of these accomplishments and that their contribution stands out from other people’s, please consider nominating them for a honor.

How do I write a nomination?

The most important thing is to provide evidence of what they’ve done and how they’ve made things better for others. Your nomination form doesn’t need to be a work of art – it doesn’t matter whether it’s typed or handwritten or has pictures. There isn’t a right way or a wrong way to write a nomination, and it doesn’t need to be particularly formal. There’s no “right length”. Every nomination is different. But your nomination must tell the story of what your candidate has done. Give examples of how they have demonstrated outstanding quality. Show how your candidate has:

Contributed distinctively, and devoted themselves to sustained and selfless service;
Has shown innovation or creativity in delivering lasting results. A good nomination should also describe as vividly and precisely as possible the difference their contribution has made;
Try to answer the following questions how were things before they began and how are they now;
What makes your candidate different from others doing the same thing? Give details to support these claims; and
Show how your candidate has earned the respect of their peers and become a role model in their field, and produced, perhaps against the odds, sustained achievement which has required moral courage, vision, the ability to make tough choices or determined application, and hard work.

You should also ensure that letters written to support your nomination form are written by people who know the nominee personally. It doesn’t matter who the supporters are, but they must be able to talk about the nominee from first-hand experience.

What shouldn’t I do?

There’s no wrong way to write a nomination. But remember that honors committees judge candidates’ merits on the information provided to them. A good nomination is the foundation for that. Only the strongest nominations will result in an honor. To write a good citation, there must be enough information in the nomination form to make a good case.

So your nomination shouldn’t be:

an extended CV;
a list of educational achievements;
a list of appointments, awards, or posts;
a job description showing what the person is meant to do.

Examples of citation verbiage:

The front-line professional skills and three decades of service as an officer are exemplary. The officer's relentless sharing of information within jurisdictions worldwide creates a sense of unity and fosters a progressive working relationship between jurisdictions. His dedication to community, policing, and country is infectious. His perseverance and reliability are sensational.

His/Her distinguished skills in transportation security are remarkable; the depth and understanding of the law and knowledge of public safety and security provide for a steadfast environment under his leadership. Through innovation and strategy, he leads through example, and the aviation policing community has benefited tremendously.

On Friday [date], at approximately [time] hours, the Officer responded to an active shooter incident, where a lone gunman entered Terminal 9 at [location], opened fire with a semi-automatic assault rifle, and mortally wounded a Security Administration Screening Officer, and injured several others. The Officer and five of his fellow officers courageously and boldly confronted the heavily-armed suspect and successfully neutralized the threat within minutes of receiving the “shots fired” radio call. The heroic and selfless actions saved countless innocent lives and averted a mass-casualty incident.