Early Scholar Award

The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) annually presents the Early Scholar Award to an individual who has made significant contributions in conducting and reporting research regarding the education of gifted and talented individuals, and who is in the first 10 years of the field or the first 10 years after completion of his or her last earned degree.

Submission Procedure & Checklist
The NAGC national office will make every effort to contact those who have nominated a colleague, or those who have nominated themselves, to let them know of any missing materials, provided the nomination packet arrives at least two weeks before the deadline.

• One letter of support from the person submitting the nomination that details why the nominee would be an appropriate recipient of the award.
• Two letters of recommendation (from other than the person submitting the nomination) from persons who have the ability to judge the significance of the nominee's contributions. At least one letter must be from a colleague from an institution other than the one from which the nominee received his or her graduate degree.
• Vita and/or supporting documents for the nominee (relevant publications; research; presentations to professional groups; grants/fellowships.

Selection Criteria
Evidence submitted should represent significant contribution in one of the following areas, or various contributions in more than one area:
1. Evidence of research and scholarship can be shown by meeting at least three (3) of the following criteria:

• Participates in research development in gifted education showing evidence of evolving expertise in a given area.
• Has received grant awards for research in the field of gifted education.
• Publishes research in refereed journals (at least three articles).
• Presented research in the field of gifted education at refereed national/international conferences where research is emphasized, such as AERA, Wallace Symposium, or the NAGC Annual Convention Research & Evaluation strand.
• Actively participates in the Research & Evaluation Network of NAGC.

Restrictions

• An individual may receive this award once.
• The nominee must have been in the field for 10 years or fewer years.
• The nominee must have been a member of NAGC for the two consecutive years preceding his or her nomination.

Selection Procedure
All materials should be sent to the Chair of the Awards Committee in care of the NAGC National Office. The Chair will compile data regarding nomination and distribute this information to the NAGC Awards Committee for review. The Committee will submit its recommendation to the Board of Directors.

Award
The recipient(s) of the award, in additional to other applicants, will be notified of the Awards Committee's decision in writing no later than August 31. The award recipient will receive a plaque presented at the NAGC Annual Convention in November and a one-year membership to NAGC.