The Pete watson Skills Award

(Guidelines Created July 2022)

Criteria for Award:

The recipient must be an ALHFAM member and cannot be a current Board member.

Proposed recipients of the Skills Award have demonstrated long-term dedication to the preservation of historic skills within ALHFAM. Such notable service may include one or more of the following:

1. Leadership and demonstrated passion in preserving, sharing, and teaching skills of the past within the organization at the regional or national level.
2. Achievements including writing articles and recording videos on the preservation of historic skills for the Bulletin or other publications.
3. Frequent presentations on skill preservation or teaching workshops at local, regional or national conferences.
4. Serving as a mentor and role model for individuals within ALHFAM and the living history field while providing the leadership to promote and strengthen historic skills.
5. Other significant or outstanding efforts to preserve the skills of the past as a part of ALHFAM and as a part of other organizations.

Nomination Process:

1. Any ALHFAM member may nominate one candidate a year for the award.
2. All nominations shall be submitted to the Chair of the Awards Committee in written or electronic form at least two months prior to the annual conference. Consult the ALHFAM Bulletin or the ALHFAM website at alhfam.org for the Chair’s contact information.
3. Nominations shall be in the form of a letter that outlines the contributions the candidate has made to preserving and promoting specific historic skills and why they should be considered for this award. Nominators should specifically address the criteria listed above and provide supporting evidence. This may include “letters of support” from others besides the nominator.

Selection Process:

1. The Awards Chair distributes the nominations to the Awards Committee.
2. The Awards committee agrees by consensus in a timely manner on the most worthy candidate, and submits its selection to the President.
3. The President presents the selection to the entire Board of Directors for approval.
4. The President notifies the successful candidate at least one month before the annual conference.
5. Unsuccessful nominations will not be reconsidered unless re-nominated annually. There is no set number of times a candidate may be nominated.
6. It is not required that the award is presented each year. If there are no nominations, or no suitable nominations, the award will not be given that year.

Presenting the Award:

1. The ALHFAM President, or person(s) appointed by the President, will make the award at the annual conference.
2. The recipient will be featured in an article of the Bulletin, blog post, or e-update following the annual conference.