Eligibility
The award scheme will be open to all GBIF participant nodes. The awards recognize the achievements of the entire node team, rather than those of individual node managers or staff members. Node managers are eligible to self-nominate on behalf of their own team.
Scope
The GBIF Node Awards will present two separate awards simultaneously on behalf of the GBIF Governing Board. The expert jury will select only one winner for each award but may provide special commendations for up to two runners-up.
GBIF Node Award for Excellence
This award recognizes outstanding progress made by a node team within the year leading up to the award.
Awardees will demonstrate progress across the four core areas of services that nodes provide (from the nodes guide):
- Support for science and research
- Support for policy and decisions
- Community engagement and capacity development for mobilizing biodiversity data
- Technical services for biodiversity data management and curation
GBIF Node Award for Global Impact
This award recognizes work pioneered by nodes that contributes to the broader delivery of GBIF’s strategic framework and benefits GBIF as a whole. The work in question has to have taken place within the year leading up to the award.
Criteria
All nominations will be scored against criteria that will be published in the call for nominations.
Impact
- The level of progress that has been demonstrated relating to the four areas of node services
- The scale of contribution to the implementation of nodes strategy and GBIF’s strategic framework
Approach
- The effectiveness of the approach
- The originality and innovation of the approach
Replicability
- The potential for reuse and broad impact in the nodes community
- Any replication/reuse that is already taking place
Nomination package
Node managers can prepare and submit nominations using the dedicated form in the GBIF grants portal. Additional supporting documentation for each nomination should include:
- Name(s) of the node manager and staff involved in the nomination
- Letter(s) of support from the Head of Delegation and other relevant collaborators
Schedule
The GBIF Node Awards will run every other year to coincide with the biennial Global Nodes Meeting. Nominations will open during the year's second quarter and close in July. The jury will complete its review and selection in September, with winners announced at both the Global Nodes Meeting and the Governing Board meeting immediately following.
Jury
Winners will be chosen by an expert jury consisting of members who have experience working in or with GBIF participant nodes. Jury members will likely include representatives from:
- the Nodes Steering Group
- current Heads of Delegation
- GBIF Secretariat staff
- Former nodes committee chairs
- Former node staff
- Previous award winners (in following years)
Announcements and promotion
The awards will be announced at the bienneal Global Nodes Meeting and subsequent Governing Board meeting. Winners will receive a trophy or objet d’art that the node team can display in their office to recognize their achievements.
Communications around the award will help to raise the visibility of the node-level achievements and contributions to the implementation of the GBIF strategic framework.
All nominations will be used to generate communications materials, including guiding examples and news items on GBIF.org, helping to raise awareness of all node accomplishments across the network.