A. The award is bestowed upon an individual by the ARRL Board of Directors; the Programs & Services Committee of the Board shall oversee the nomination and screening process.

B. The name of the award shall be the "ARRL Professional Educator of the Year Award."

C. Eligibility of Nominees:

1. Must use Amateur Radio as part of the curriculum or after-school program, or teach it in a public or private educational institution, such as a community college, school or vocational education institution.

2. Must be an ARRL-registered educator and ARRL Member.

3. Must use ARRL training publications, such as Now You're Talking!, FCC Rule Book, ARRL/King Schools Video Course, ARRL License Manuals, and/or other ARRL educational materials as part of training materials.

4. Must be personally compensated for teaching classes as described in Paragraph 1, above.

5. Must agree when accepting the nomination that he or she shall not use the award in promoting any future commercial Amateur Radio teaching ventures.

D. Selection criteria:

1. Demonstrated ability (success rate -- eg, number of students exposed to Amateur Radio, number who pass their license exams; percentage of students beginning a course who successfully complete it).
2. Anecdotal evidence of extraordinary personal commitment to teaching and using Amateur Radio in a school setting.
3. Innovative techniques employed.
4. Endorsements and testimonials from past and present students, school officials, section leadership, non-ham community groups served by the instructor, and others.
5. Length of service.
6. Shows ability in attracting numbers of students to participate in an Amateur Radio activity.
7. Involvement in providing extracurricular ham radio opportunities for students before or after they have earned their licenses (School Club Roundup, Kid's Day, formation of a school-wide Amateur Radio club or operating station, etc).
8. Evidence of course(s) taught (letter from administrator or supervisor).
9. Evidence of creative promotion of the course(s) to encourage student interest.
10. Demonstration of application of Amateur Radio for students in their daily lives, career choices or present jobs.

E. Procedure:

1. Nominations shall be solicited through any appropriate professional source and from the ARRL Field Organization, affiliated clubs, ARRL-registered instructors, and ARRL prospective hams, and self-nominations are welcomed.

2. Nomination submissions shall be received by the Field & Educational Services Department at HQ by March 1.

3. Nominations shall be acknowledged by Field & Educational Services (F&ES).

a. F&ES shall solicit comments from ARRL Directors for any nominations from their Divisions.

b. F&ES shall solicit comments from ARRL Section Managers for any nominations from their Sections.

c. F&ES shall notify the nominee of the nomination and solicit from the nominee supporting information or exhibits (for example, description of experience, results from past classes, testimonials, examples of innovative lesson plans, examples of publicity received). The nominee shall also agree to not use the award, if won, in promoting any future commercial Amateur Radio teaching venture. Nominees who do not submit the supporting information shall not be considered in the final evaluation.

d. All supplementary information shall be due at ARRL HQ by April 1.

4. The nomination packages shall be made available for review and discussion by a panel of five (5) Educational Advisors by April 15. In addition, the F&ES Manager may appoint four (4) HQ staffers to review and comment on the nominations and assist the Educational Advisors in their selection.

5. The Educational Advisors on the panel shall submit an objective evaluation of each nomination to determine the recipient, resulting in a final recommendation to the Programs & Services Committee by May 15. The P-SC shall review the recommendation and circulate it to the ARRL Board of Directors by June 15.

6. If the panel of Educational Advisors recommends more than one award be given in any year, the P-SC has the discretion to recommend to the Board that more than one award be given. Funds for multiple awards would be requested from affiliated clubs by F&ES.

7. The ARRL Board of Directors shall make the final determination at its Second Meeting.

8. F&ES shall send suitable recognition to each nominee.

F. The Award shall consist of:

1. A plaque engraved with the recipient's name and call sign, and a cover letter.

2. ARRL publications of a value up to $100.00.

3. Coverage in QST, ARRLWeb, and other ARRL venues.

4. Local non-ham media coverage through the PIO/PIA.