The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is pleased to announce a call for nominations for its 2019 Leadership and Service Awards, which include two new awards created to honor achievement in the conformity assessment and workforce development areas. ANSI will present the awards at a banquet and ceremony on Wednesday, November 6, 2019, at The Fairmont Washington, Washington, DC, during World Standards Week 2019.
ANSI's Leadership and Service Awards honor individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to voluntary consensus standards development, conformity assessment activities, and workforce development, and whose contributions have consistently demonstrated a commitment to their industry, the nation, and the enhancement of the global standardization system.
Established this year, the Maureen Breitenberg Conformity Assessment Research Medal is named for the late senior economist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) whose publications on conformity assessment, certification, and standardization are widely recognized as primers in the fields. The medal will honor distinguished research that illuminates the importance of conformance in providing confidence in standards compliance, improving the health and safety of Americans, and strengthening U.S. competitiveness.
Also new in 2019, the ANSI Workforce Development and Innovation Award will recognize an accredited credentialing body making a significant impact on workforce development in the United States. The recipient organization may be recognized for providing a credentialing solution to prepare workers for jobs; fostering collaboration with government, industry, and employers to develop a skilled workforce; developing innovative practices to improve the quality of a credentialing program; and/or creating workforce solutions that build value and help address the skills mismatch.
The following is the full list of ANSI Leadership and Service Awards now open for nominations, with criteria and submission information available at each link:
ANSI Workforce Development and Innovation Award
Astin-Polk International Standards Medal
Lohse Information Technology Medal
Maureen Breitenberg Conformity Assessment Research Medal *
President's Award for Journalism
Ritterbusch Conformity Assessment Medal
Thomson Electrotechnology Medal
Eligibility and Selection
Representatives of industry, government, academia, consumer organizations, and the U.S. voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment community, with the exception of current officers of
the Institute's Board of Directors, are considered eligible for an award. Recipients will be chosen from the list of nominees by an awards committee comprised of the officers of the ANSI Board of Directors.
Along with the nomination form, letters of support from members of the standardization community attesting to the nominee's outstanding achievements and appropriateness for receipt of the award are strongly encouraged. The nomination forms are available here. Winners will be announced by September 2019.
"ANSI's annual awards program is a tribute to the dedicated professionals who make up the diverse U.S. standardization community, and we are pleased to expand that recognition to workforce development and conformity assessment activities with the new awards," said S. Joe Bhatia, ANSI president and CEO. "We look forward to honoring outstanding contributions that help to strengthen the economy and the workforce, protect the environment, and improve the well-being of people around the world."
For more information, visit ansi.org/awards.
About ANSI
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and quality of life by promoting, facilitating, and safeguarding the integrity of the voluntary standards and conformity assessment system. The Institute serves the diverse interests of more than 270,000 companies and organizations and 30 million professionals worldwide. ANSI is the U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
The ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB), a wholly owned subsidiary of ANSI, is the largest multi-disciplinary ISO/IEC 17011 accreditation body in North America. The ANSI/ANAB accreditation portfolio includes programs for management systems certification bodies, calibration and testing labs, product certification bodies, personnel credentialing organizations, forensic test and calibration service providers, inspection bodies, police crime units, greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies, reference material producers, and proficiency test providers.
Workcred is an ANSI affiliate whose mission is to strengthen workforce quality by improving the credentialing system, ensuring its ongoing relevance, and preparing employers, workers, educators,
and governments to use it effectively.