Guidelines for Medal Nominations

Significant contributions to applied geochemistry or service to AAG are recognized by the awarding of either the AAG Gold Medal or Silver Medal (formerly known as the Past Presidents’ Medal), respectively. The history of how the medals came about and the formulation of guidelines for their award are discussed in the April 1992 issue of EXPLORE.

Past discussions of the guidelines indicated that the process for nominating individuals for either medal was a little cumbersome, to the extent that some nominations were not being made, and others took an unnecessarily long time to resolve. With this in mind, the 2012-3 Awards & Medals Committee (Chair: Paul Morris. Committee members Eion Cameron, Pertti Sarala, and Chris Benn) revisited the guidelines in an effort to make the nomination process a little friendlier, with a more concise timeframe for resolution. The revised guidelines are presented below in place of the earlier version. In short:

- The physical size of each nomination has been reduced

- Nominations for either medal should be made to the Chairman of the Awards & Medals Committee by December 1^st of any year

- For simplicity, the past Presidents’ Medal will be known in the future only as the Silver Medal

- Successful nominees will be presented with their medal at the first IAGS meeting following the ratification of the medal award by AAG Council

Although the guidelines have been simplified, the Awards & Medals Committee emphasizes the significance of both medals. This is shown by those who have been medal recipients:

Gold Medal Award Recipients & Silver Medal Award Recipients

(Revised guidelines)

GUIDELINES FOR MEDAL NOMINATION

1.0 THE MEDALS AND THEIR PRESENTATION

1.1 The Association of Exploration Geochemists (now the Association of Applied Geochemists, or AAG) inaugurated two (2) medals to be awarded to worthy and deserving persons in accordance with the guidelines set out below. A full discussion of the history of the medals and the guidelines for awarding them is presented in EXPLORE 75, April 1992.

1.2 The medals are of a design approved by the Council of the Association. They are referred to as the "GOLD MEDAL" and the "PAST PRESIDENTS' MEDAL". The latter has also been known as the Association’s “SILVER MEDAL”, and, for simplicity, will be known only as the Silver Medal in future.

1.3 The Gold Medal, to be awarded to a person for outstanding scientific achievement in exploration geochemistry, will be engraved with the name of the recipient and the year of the award. The award is to be presented to active and/or retired geoscientists, not posthumously.

1.4 The Silver Medal, to be awarded to a member of the Association of Applied Geochemists for dedicated service to the Association, will be engraved with the name of the recipient and the year of the award.

1.5 Both the Gold Medal and the Silver Medal will be presented by the President of the Association at the first International Applied Geochemistry Symposium (IAGS) following endorsement of nominations.

1.6 The award citations for both the Gold Medal and the Silver Medal shall be prepared by the President from information provided by the Awards and Medals Committee.

1.7 The award citations for each medal and the acceptance speeches of the recipients will be included in full in the first issue of the Association newsletter, EXPLORE, published following the IAGS at which the awards are presented.

1.8 The Secretary of the Association will issue a press release at the time of the awards naming the recipients and a description of the services and/or scientific achievements for which they are honoured. The press release will be prepared by the Chairman of the Awards and Medals Committee, and will be delivered to appropriate newspapers, journals (e.g. EXPLORE, ELEMENTS), and societies around the world.

1.9 The Gold and Silver Medals are intended to recognize living scientists and are not generally presented as posthumous awards.

2.0 THE AWARDS AND MEDALS COMMITTEE

2.1 The immediate Past President of the Association will be the Chairman of the Awards and Medals Committee. He or she will select either three (3) or four (4) other Voting Members for the Committee, all of whom must be Fellows of the Association. Following selection, the composition of the committee will be endorsed by the Council. Consideration should be given to Past Presidents, Councillors and Regional Councillors of the Association as suitable Committee members.

2.2 The Chairman of the Awards and Medals Committee for each year will assume his or her responsibilities immediately following the end of his or her term as President of the Association. He or she will serve as Chairman of the committee for a two (2) year period.

2.3 The Awards and Medals Committee will be responsible for soliciting nominations for both the Gold Medal and the Silver Medal through notices in EXPLORE, other newsletters, and other appropriate procedures, including the Association’s website.

3.0 NOMINATIONS

3.1 To be eligible for consideration for either award, nominations must be received by the Chairman of the Awards and Medals Committee on or before December 1^st of any year.

3.2 For acceptance by the Awards and Medals Committee, nominations must be signed by a minimum of four (4) Fellows (voting members) of the Association in good standing. Nominations should include:

(a) A one-page recommendation from each of the four nominators;

(b) A resume or curriculum vitae of the nominee;

(c) An itemized list of the outstanding scientific achievements (Gold Medal) or the dedicated service to the Association (Silver Medal) of the nominee (maximum two pages).

Since members of the Awards Committee may not have personal knowledge of the nominee, the completeness and quality of the nomination will be critical in terms of evaluation and selection.

3.3 The Awards and Medals Committee will review all nominations and the Chairman of the committee will report the committee's selection for each award to the Council at the first Council Meeting in the year following the nomination(s). The Committee, in its judgement, may elect not to select any of the nominees entered for consideration and not more than one Gold Medal and one Silver Medal will be awarded in any one year. Council will confirm the Committee's selections by majority vote.

Nominations for any calendar year should be sent before 1 December of that year to the Chairman of the AAG Awards & Medals Committee. This position is held by the immediate Past President.