RNASA Stellar Award Nomination Guidelines
Stellar Awards are intended to recognize outstanding individuals and teams whose recent accomplishments hold great promise for furthering our future successes in space. The enclosed guidelines provide instructions for preparing and submitting individual and team nominations.
Contents of this page:
- Stellar Award Timeline
- Criteria for Nominating Individuals
- Criteria for Nominating Teams
- Nomination Format
- Award Selection
- Submittal of Nomination
Stellar Award Timeline
| September 30, 2024 | Call for Stellar nominations released | |
| December 16, 2024 | Stellar nomination deadline | |
| January 20, 2025 | Stellar nominee invitations released | |
| March 21, 2025 | Banquet reservations deadline | |
| April 25, 2025 | Event date |
Criteria for Nominating Individuals
In order to ensure that we recognize individuals at all stages of their careers, nominations for individuals are solicited in three categories: early-career employees, up to age 35; mid-career employees, age 36 to 50; and late career contributors, those age 51 and over.
Nominees in the past have been mostly in science and engineering, but are not limited to those fields. Any individual whose efforts have contributed to our future in space may be considered. Examples of such accomplishments might include the development of enabling technologies, solutions of technical problems which open the door to new possibilities, the development of improved processes, or contributions and efforts which are "pathfinding" in nature.
We are especially interested in recognizing people who, because of the nature of their jobs or their position in the organization, are not highly visible. These are individuals whose contributions, while key to the future success of the space program, may not otherwise have received recognition of this kind - the heroes of your organization in other words. Your organization is encouraged to submit up to (but not more than) four nominations for each category. Please note that your organization can only nominate employees from within your organization (i.e., NASA can nominate NASA civil servants, contractors can nominate individuals from within their own companies). The RNASA Stellar Committee will notify the nominees that were accepted as well as the corresponding nominators.
Criteria for Nominating Teams
Groups and teams may be nominated as well, without regard to age categories. In general, the criteria outlined above will apply. Your organization may nominate up to four different teams, but we do request that you select a single team representative from each team to attend the tours, luncheon, and the National Space Trophy Dinner in Houston. As with individual nominations, your organization can only nominate team leaders that are from within your organization.
Nomination Format
Please provide a brief (no more than one page) narrative summary of your nominees' accomplishments, per directions on the attached nomination form. We also request that you provide a short citation that summarizes your nominee's accomplishments. You are also welcome to attach a resume or submit a list of achievements for your nominee(s). Keep in mind that this is the only information that the award selection committee has to choose the winners, so please make sure that your write-ups are complete and well-written. Also, please fill out the nominee information as thoroughly and accurately as possible. The proper spelling of your nominee's name and title is important for correct printing in the National Space Trophy Dinner program and for properly engraving the awards. The contact information you provide is what we use to notify your nominee.
In order to help you in the nomination process, we have provided example citations and example nominations on our website.
Please note that the citations are short, one sentence only. The actual nominations include supporting details and narrative comments. For your convenience, an electronic version of the nomination form is available for you here.
Award Selection
For each category, as well as the team category, nominees who have worked Human Spaceflight programs will be ranked separately from those who have contributed to Unmanned Space activities. In addition, government (NASA, military, etc.) nominations will be ranked separately from corporate nominations. The top ranked nominees in each category will receive Stellar Awards. We believe that these categories lead to a fair distribution of Stellar Award winners across the many organizations that enthusiastically submit nominations and support this event.
A distinguished committee of aerospace professionals will evaluate all nominations and provide their recommendations to the RNASA Foundation. Final selection of the Stellar Award winners will be made by the RNASA Foundation.
It is the intent of the RNASA Foundation to recognize all nominees at the award banquet by publishing their names in the evening's program of events. Note: the RNASA Stellar Committee does not alter the nominations forms in any way when delivering to the award selection committee, but reserves the right to edit the citations for printing in the National Space Trophy Dinner program book.
The Stellar Award winners will not be announced until the evening of the banquet and all nominees should plan on attending.
Submittal of Nomination
Please submit your nominations through the appropriate web nomination form.
In order to be considered, the nominations must be received no later than Monday, December 16, 2024. If you need additional information, please contact Rubik Sheth at stellar2025@rnasa.org