Award Procedures

The Biometrics Working Group has five awards that they can award annually – Award of Excellence, Student Award of Excellence, David. R. Anderson Outstanding Student Paper Award, Special Recognition Award, and Appreciation Award. These awards are for individuals or groups that have made a special contribution to the Biometrics Working Group or through the application of biometrics to wildlife management and research. See Award Recipients to see past award recipients. 

The deadline for submitting award nominations is August 31 annually. Email the Advisory, Audit & Awards Committee Chair (see Executive Board) with "BWG Awards" in the subject line to submit your nominations, make inquiries regarding award procedures and nomination process, or to volunteer as an award selection committee (must be paid BWG member, see BWG Homepage for how to join the BWG).

Award of Excellence

The Biometric Working Group’s Award of Excellence recognizes an individual Biometrics Working Group member for their career-long contribution to the field of biometrics and the application of biometrics to the field of wildlife science and management.

Criteria:

• Nominees must be a current member of the BWG

• Nominees may not be a member of the Executive Board or the award’s screening committee

• The nominees must have made a significant contribution to the application of biometrics to the field of wildlife management and science that is recognizable by the members of the Biometrics Working Group

• Nominee’s contributions may be in the area of academics, research, theoretical development, application of biometrics, or any other significant area of biometrics within the field of wildlife science and management

• Nominations must come from members of the Biometrics Working Group

• The nomination must be a clear and concise statement justifying the nomination in terms of the criteria and accomplishments

Selection:

The Advisory Committee Chair will serve as the chair of the Award of Excellence committee. As chair of the committee, the chair can select other members of this committee. The chair will also submit an article to the first BWG Newsletter following the annual business meeting. This article will solicit nominations for this award. The committee chair will receive the nominations, sharing them with the committee, and submit the committee’s selection to the Executive Board for approval. This selection process should be complete at least 30 days before the annual meeting for the Biometrics Working Group.

Student Award of Excellence

The Biometrics Working Group Student Award of Excellence recognizes the contribution of a student or recent graduate TWS member for their ongoing research developing and/or applying biometrics to the field of wildlife management, conservation, and ecology, and supports that research with a personal fellowship of US $1,500.

Criteria:

• Nominated students must be engaged in research that contributes, or shows clear promise to contribute, significantly to the development and/or application of biometrics to the field of wildlife management that is recognizable by the members of the Biometrics Working Group. The nominee’s research will be judged based upon its potential contribution to the field, which may include originality and scope of applicability for methodological developments, and/or novelty of application and implications for wildlife management and conservation.

• The research for which the award is requested must be done predominantly while the nominee is a student (graduate or undergraduate). Accordingly, the nominee must be a student, either active or within 1 year post-graduation at the time of receiving the award (= date of the annual meeting)

• Nominees must be members of TWS but do not have to be members of the BWG

• Nominees may not be a member of the Biometrics Working Group Executive Board

• Nominations must come from members of The Wildlife Society. Self-nominations are also welcomed

• The nomination must include the nominee's anticipated or actual graduation date, a clear and concise statement justifying the nomination in terms of the criteria above, a CV of the nominee and a vignette (max. 1 page) describing the research that would be supported by the Award

• The vignette will be used to feature the selected nominee and their research on BWG social media channels

Selection:

Previous BWG Aldo Leopold Award recipients will form the Student Award of Excellence committee but may be supported by previous recipients of BWG awards and/or BWG Board members as needed. The committee will have at least three members. For each nomination cycle, the committee will appoint one of its members as their lead. The Advisory Committee chair will submit an article soliciting nominations for this award to the first BWG Newsletter following the annual business meeting (spring), receive the nominations and share them with the committee. The committee will coordinate nomination evaluations and submit the committee’s selection to the Executive Board for approval. The committee reserves the right not to give out an award should none of the applicants fit the criteria outlined above. This selection process should be completed at least 30 days before the annual meeting of the Biometrics Working Group. The Award will be presented to the selected nominee at the BWG annual meeting.

Availability:

In case of insufficient discretionary funds, this award may not be available in a given year. If you are unsure whether the award is open, contact the current Advisory chair (email available under Current Officers). Note: This award will be available in 2023. 

David R. Anderson Outstanding Student Paper Award

The Biometrics Working Group Outstanding Student Paper Award recognizes the contribution of an early career TWS member for their contribution to the development and/or application of biometrics to the field of wildlife management, conservation, and ecology. 

Criteria:

• Nominated manuscripts must have made a significant contribution to the development and/or application of biometrics to the field of wildlife management that is recognizable by the members of the Biometrics Working Group. Papers will be judged based upon their potential contribution to the field, which may include consideration of originality and scope of applicability for methodological developments, novelty of application and implications for wildlife management and conservation, and clear communication of methods and inference.

• Nominated manuscripts must be published in a peer-reviewed journal from the current “working group year” (annual meeting in year t-1 to one month prior to annual meeting in year t). This means that manuscripts must have (as applicable) an associated volume, issue, and page number. Manuscripts that are accepted and made available via early-view by the annual meeting are not permitted, but could be submitted for consideration the following year.

• The manuscript must represent work that was completed predominately while the author was a student. Accordingly, the first author must be a current student OR must have completed their degree (undergraduate or graduate) within the previous two years, and must be a member of TWS.

• Nominees may not be a member of the Biometrics Working Group Executive Board or the award’s screening committee.

• Nominations must come from members of the Biometrics Working Group, but nominees need not be BWG members. Self-nominations are also welcomed.

• The nomination must include the nominee's anticipated or actual graduation date, a copy of the manuscript, and a clear and concise statement justifying the nomination in terms of the criteria above.

Selection:

The Advisory Committee Chair will serve as the chair of the Outstanding Student Paper Award committee and will select other members to serve on this committee. The Advisory Committee Chair will also submit an article soliciting nominations for this award to the first BWG Newsletter following the annual business meeting. The committee chair will receive the nominations, sharing them with the committee, and submit the committee’s selection to the Executive Board for approval. This selection process should be complete at least 30 days before the annual meeting for the Biometrics Working Group.

Special Recognition Award

The Biometrics Working Group’s Special Recognition Award is meant to recognize a group or an individual that has made an outstanding contribution to the development and application of quantitative methods to the fields of wildlife science and management. A group may consist of multiple individuals who worked as a team, a governmental group or agency, a non-governmental group, a company, or a university department or departmental subsection. A non-wildlife oriented individual may be someone who made a significant impact on the fields of wildlife science and management in establishing, developing, or teaching quantitative methods. 

Criteria:

• Nominees may be an individual or a group that have made a significant contribution to the field of wildlife biometrics and their application to wildlife science and management

• Nominees may be an individual, group, agency, organization, or company

• Nominees do not need to be a member of the Biometrics Working Group

• Nominees cannot be a member of the Executive Board or a member of the screening committee.

Selection:

The Advisory Committee Chair will serve as chair of the Special Recognition Award committee. As chair of the committee, the chair can select other members of this committee. These members may be the same as for the Award of Excellence screening committee. The chair of the committee will submit an article to the first BWG Newsletter following the annual business meeting. This article will solicit nominations for this award. The committee chair will receive the nominations, sharing them with the committee, and submit the committee’s selection to the Executive Board for approval. This selection process should be complete at least 30 days before the annual meeting for the Biometrics Working Group.

Appreciation Awards

The Biometrics Working Group Appreciation Award recognizes a long-term or life-time achievement, or an exemplary short-term contribution by a Biometrics Working Group member on behalf of the Biometrics Working Group. This award can also be presented to a group of individuals not affiliated with the Biometrics Working Group that have made a significant sacrifice of their time, talents, financial resources, or energies by providing a direct service to the Biometrics Working Group.

Criteria: 

• •     Nominees may be any individual that has made a significant contribution to the Biometrics Working Group

  •     Nominees need to be members of the Biometrics Working Group

  •     Nominees cannot be members of the Executive Board or the award selection committee.

Selection:

The Advisory Committee Chair will serve as chair of the committee for the Appreciation Award. The Committee will review and vote on those individuals (up to 5) that the chair of the committee brings forward. If a committee member is among the nominated individuals, this member will not be included in the discussion or voting process. This selection process should be complete at least 30 days before the annual meeting for the Biometrics Working Group.