Nomination Procedures for CPA Awards and Fellows

CPA Award Nomination Procedures CPA Fellow Nomination Procedures
Submission Deadline: January 31st, 2026

NEW All award nominees must be CPA Members for a minimum of 5 consecutive years. (Note: CPA Affiliates, CPA Board of Directors and members of the Committee on Fellows and Awards are not eligible.)

Nomination packages must include:

  1. a letter of nomination from a current CPA Member (Note: self nominations are not accepted)
  2. a current curriculum vitae for the nominee, and
  3. 3 additional letters of support written in the last calendar year. (Note: no additional letters of support over 3 will be accepted.)
    NEW A maximum of 2 letter of support can come from non-CPA Members. The letters of support should be drawn from 3 different institutions, with no more than one coming from the nominee’s home institution.

Note: CPA Student Affiliates, CPA Board members and CPA staff are not eligible to nominate or write letters of support.

Nominations will be submitted by electronic form during the month of January. All nominees, nominators and letter of support writers must be current CPA Members in good standing by January 31, 2026 (no extensions will be provided).

CPA Awards Nomination Submission

 Submission Deadline: January 31st, 2026

NEW  All Fellow nominees must be CPA Members for a minimum of 5 consecutive years. (Note: CPA Affiliates, CPA Board of Directors and members of the Committee on Fellows and Awards are not eligible.)

Nomination packages must include:

  1. a letter of nomination from a current CPA Member (Note: self nominations are not accepted)
  2. a current curriculum vitae for the nominee, and
  3. 3 additional letters of support written in the last calendar year.
    (Note: no additional letters of support over 3 will be accepted.)
    NEW A maximum of 2 letter of support can come from non-CPA Members. The letters of support should be drawn from 3 different institutions, with no more than one coming from the nominee’s home institution.

The letters of support should be specific about the ways in which the nominee’s research or practice has contributed to the advancement of the science or profession of psychology or as to ways the person’s service to national or provincial associations of psychologists have been exceptional. In the case of nominations based upon accomplishments other than published theory or research, the specific innovative contributions and their impact on psychology should be described.

The letters of support should point out evidence of the quality of journals in which the nominee has published, awards received, etc. In the case of nominations based upon exceptional service to national or provincial associations of psychologists, the letters of nomination should describe the association (e.g., nature of the association, number of members, services they provide).

Normally, the nominee should have completed their post-secondary training ten years prior to being nominated for Fellow status. Someone with less than ten years’ experience following graduation, but more than five years of experience, could be elected Fellow if their contributions or services have been found by the Committee to be truly exceptional.

Note: CPA Student Affiliates, CPA Board members and CPA staff are not eligible to nominate or write letters of support.

Nominations will be submitted by electronic form during the month of January. All nominees, nominators and letter of support writers must be current CPA Members in good standing by January 31, 2026 (no extensions will be provided).

CPA Fellows Nomination Submission

CPA FELLOWS AND AWARDS PROCEDURES

The Committee on Fellows and Awards shall review nominations for Fellows and Awards and make recommendations to the Board of Directors, which ultimately shall appoint Fellows and make awards.

The Nomination Process

  1. Each year a call for nominations for Fellows and Awards is made to the CPA Membership.
  2. Any Member, except current members of the CPA Board of Directors and members of the Committee on Fellows and Awards, can be nominated for Fellow status or for an Award. Self-nominations are not accepted. Nominators must be members of the CPA but cannot be current members of the Committee on Fellows and Awards nor can they be current members of the CPA Board of Directors.
  3. Nominations for Fellows and Awards shall be submitted to the Chair of the Fellows and Awards Committee, electronically, no later than January 31st.
  4. The John C. Service Member of the Year and the Humanitarian Awards are nominated by the CPA Board of Directors.
  5. At the close of nominations, the Committee shall undertake to review the nominees.
  6. A committee member who is in conflict of interest vis-à-vis any of the nominees shall declare this conflict to the Chair and shall not participate in the evaluation of the affected nomination(s). (A conflict of interest is as a situation in which a committee member has a private, personal or professional interest sufficient to appear to influence the objective exercise of their official duties.)
  7. In any year, the Chair and members of the Committee will choose the procedures to be followed by the Committee in selecting Fellows and Award recipients. These choices may pertain both to internal communications within the committee (e.g., individual voting without discussion, consultation by e-mail, telephone, or other means either before voting or after a preliminary vote) and to the rules for selecting the recipients (e.g., on the basis of a set proportion of positive votes out of those cast versus a plurality, each Committee member ranking all nominees versus identifying a single preferred nominee).
  8. As noted in the By-Laws, there are three ways to achieve Fellow status:
    1. distinguished contributions to the advancement of the science of psychology;
    2. distinguished contributions to the advancement of the profession of psychology; and
    3. exceptional service to national or provincial associations, of psychologists.
  9. Committee members are encouraged to give a brief rationale for negative decisions on Fellow nominations.
  10. Nominees for Fellows and Awards need to receive 70% of the eligible votes from the Committee on Fellows and Awards.
  11. Should the nominee for Awards not be selected the year submitted, they will automatically be reconsidered in each of the next two years.
  12. It is possible that not all awards will be given each year.
  13. The Chair of the Fellows and Awards Committee shall recommend to the Board of Directors of the Association, with supporting documentation, that the selected nominee be named the award recipient.
  14. The Board of Directors shall consider that recommendation at its next meeting or by e-mail, and either to ratify the recommendation or else refer the recommendation to the Fellows and Awards Committee for further consideration. The decision of the Board of Directors is final in this matter.
  15. The award recipient for each category as well as the elected Fellows shall be notified by the Chair of the Fellows and Awards Committee after the decision of the Board of Directors.
  16. CPA staff shall further develop, in conjunction with the original nominator, an appropriate citation that can be read at the time of the presentation of the award.