Section I: Purpose of the Awards and Nominations Committee

The Awards and Nominations (ANC) committee will be responsible for two main activities: (1) coordinating nominations for the elected Board of Director positions and (2) conducting the nomination and selection process for awards (Early Career, Mid-Career, Cooperator, Leadership, and McClintock). The final selection of the McClintock awardee will be voted on by the BoD.

The awards committee will accept nominations for honorary awards, but the Board of Directors will have full discretion to make honorary awards, such as the lifetime achievement awards. More than one honorary award may be made in a given year.

Section II: Organization of the Awards and Nominations Committee

The committee will consist of 9 members appointed by the Board of Directors. Members of the ANC will be selected to be diverse and represent the variety of disciplines, career stages and geography of the community and will include 1 member of the BOD and 1 member of CODIE. Each member will serve three-year terms; therefore, three members will rotate off each year and will not be eligible for appointment for two succeeding years. MGAC and CODIE will recommend members to the BoD. Each year the committee will elect a chair from their membership. Members of the ANC committee are not eligible to be considered for any award or elected positions while on the committee.

Section III: Activities & Responsibilities of the Awards and Nominations Committee

The activities assumed by the Committee include:

1. At the initiation of its activities each year, the committee will review its processes and update them and/or report concerns to the Board of Directors. Upon completion of its function each year, the committee will file a report with the Secretary to capture details of the process and maintain a list of potential future candidates.
2. The ANC committee will seek nominations from the entire MGC for elected positions in the Board of Directors and MGAC. The ANC committee will be responsible for:
1. Ensuring a fair and transparent process to includes open nominations.
2. Recruiting a slate of nominees that reflect the diversity of MGC.
3. Ensure all willing candidates are present on the ballot along with a written statement on what they would like to accomplish.
4. The entire MGC membership will use rank choice voting to select the Board of Directors. Elected candidates will be those with the most votes.
3. The ANC committee will seek nominations for individuals who have made substantial contributions to plant genetics or the maize community to be recognized by the different MGC awards. This committee will have the following main responsibilities:
1. Conduct a search process to solicit nominations of qualified individuals.
2. Organize the call for nominations and establish appropriate deadlines every year.
3. Disclose and resolve conflicts of interest prior to discussion - including recent publication, grants, institution, and mentor/mentee relationships. Only mentor/mentee/partner relationships will be treated as disqualifying conflicts for voting.
4. Select the Early Career, Mid-Career, Cooperator and Leadership awards by rank-based voting after discussion of all application packets. At the discretion of the committee, two awards can be made if there are equally deserving people.
5. The Board of Directors will be responsible for confirming the selection of the Early Career, Mid-Career, Cooperator and Leadership awards by the ANC. The Board of Directors and MGAC will select and vote on the McClintock awardee based on the nominations forwarded by the ANC. If members of the BoD or MGAC are nominated for the McClintock award and are being voted on by this combined body for the final winner, these members will be asked to recuse themselves from the voting process.
6. Create the award plaques. The ANC Chair prints the necessary award plaques for recipients of each award.
7. Gather feedback from the maize community and the plant genetics community about current awards and propose changes to current awards or additions of new awards yearly.