John E. VanDuzer Distinguished Service Award Nomination Form

John E. VanDuzer Distinguished Service Award
The John E. VanDuzer Distinguished Service Award recognizes outstanding contributions and/or achievements by members of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. The award is named for the late Justice John E. VanDuzer, who served as first Canadian president of AFCC in 1983. Throughout his career, Justice VanDuzer distinguished himself as a tireless advocate for children and families. Justice VanDuzer initiated the formation of the first integrated federal-provincial family court, the Unified Family Court of Hamilton-Wentworth.

Eligibility
All members of AFCC are eligible, except for current members of the parent organization Board of Directors. Posthumous nominations are permitted.

Nominations
Nominations are solicited from AFCC membership. Any member of AFCC may nominate an individual for the award. To nominate an individual, the nomination must be completed and submitted by March 22, 2024, prior to the annual conference at which time the award will be presented. The AFCC Nominations Committee will recommend at least one candidate for consideration for the award.

Decision
The recipient of the award shall be chosen from the submitted candidates by a majority vote of the AFCC Awards Committee.

Presentation
This award will be presented annually at the AFCC Annual Conference.

Guidelines
Click here for complete guidelines and criteria. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

You may find it helpful to compose your written responses in a word processing program and then paste them into the submission form. You will need the following information to complete the application:

  1. The name, mailing address, email address, phone number, of the person submitting the nomination. You must be an AFCC member to submit award nominations.
  2. The name, mailing address, email address, phone number, of the nominee.
  3. Written responses detailing how the nominee meets the following criteria (up to 150 words per response):
    1. The recipient's demonstrated exceptional skills in the field/profession.
    2. The recipient's contribution to the field/profession.
    3. The recipient's contribution to the community and other projects or initiatives.
    4. The recipient's leadership in AFCC through sharing knowledge, experience, skill, commitment, and serving as a role model to the members of AFCC and profession.
    5. The recipient's contributions to the development of AFCC, its policies, procedures, and governance.
  4. The name, email address, phone number of one professional reference for the nominee, including a brief description of the nominee's professional relationship with the reference. 

Questions
Contact Patrick Sommer at AFCC, 608-664-3750, or psommer@afccnet.org.

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