Dept of Army Seal

US Army Civilian Human Resources Annual Awards

Table of Contents

(Revised: 12/20/11)

Page    Section

 2       William H. Kushnick Award

 3       John W. Macy, Jr. Award

 4       Kushnick and Macy Award Nomination Procedures

 5       Nick Hoge Award

 6      Nick Hoge Professional Paper Submission Procedures

 7      Overall Selection and Award Presentation Information


Deadline for Calendar Year 2011 nominations for the above awards is

Thursday, 09 Feb 2012! !




THE WILLIAM H. KUSHNICK AWARD

William H. Kushnick was one of the most highly respected and distinguished members of the Army Civilian Personnel Community. He served as Director of Civilian Personnel from 1941 to 1946 for what was then known as the War Department; and his innovative leadership was responsible in great part for the nature of the civilian personnel program as it is conducted in the Army today. Mr. Kushnick, in conjunction with Mr. James Mitchell, who was Director of Personnel, Army Service Forces, saw the need to decentralize the authority for the civilian personnel program from the Secretary of the Army to the installation level. Under his leadership, Orders M of 1942 and 1943 were developed and implemented. These orders essentially established the levels of responsibility for civilian personnel management and administration that are exercised today. Mr. Kushnick balanced this new concept of decentralization by instituting program inspection as a principal Army mission responsibility to assure that it was operating successfully.

Purpose: Mr. Kushnick was the recipient of many awards including the Exceptional Civilian Service Award in 1946. However, he is perhaps best known to many of today's personnelists because of The William H. Kushnick Award, established and named in his honor in 1968. This award recognizes the most outstanding singular achievement of an Army employee in civilian personnel administration.

The Award: The William H. Kushnick Award recepient is awarded a Department of the Army certificate.

Eligibility: All civilian employees, including appropriated and non-appropriated fund employees, US citizens and local nationals, engaged in civilian human resources administration in the Department of the Army.

Basis for Selection: Eligible personnel will be nominated and considered in accordance with the following criteria:

  1. Specific Contribution: A specific contribution in the broad field of civilian human resources administration for which the nominee is personally responsible and which resulted in material improvement in service, substantial financial savings, or significant social or technological progress. The contribution must have culminated during the calendar year ending 31 December of the nominating year.

  2. Career Accomplishments: A record reflecting highly effective personal career development, executive or technical ability, exemplary performance, and demonstrated potential for higher level work. These accomplishments should not be limited to the specific contribution for which the individual is nominated, but cover the career spectrum.




THE JOHN W. MACY, JR. AWARD

John Williams Macy, Jr. started his government career in 1938 as an intern at the Institute of Public Affairs. From there he became an administrative aide of the Social Security board. During World War II, Mr. Macy was the Assistant Director of Civilian Personnel for the War Department. After the war, he was selected to be the Organizational Director for the Atomic Energy Commission in Los Alamos, NM. Upon his return to Washington, he worked as a Special Assistant to the Army and in 1953 was appointed by President Eisenhower to be the Executive Director of the Civil Service Commission. After serving as the Executive Vice-President of Wesleyan University for three years, he returned to the Civil Service Commission under the Johnson Administration, and served as Chairman for 8 years. In this position, Mr. Macy spoke out against sexual and racial discrimination in the Federal Government and called for Federal salaries to be put on par with private industry. At the same time, Mr. Macy directed the Personnel Appointment Office, a newly formed White House department. Mr. Macy spent later years serving as president for both the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Council of Better Business Bureau before becoming the first Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 1979. During his career, Mr. Macy authored several books, including Public Service: Human Side of Government.

Purpose: The John W. Macy, Jr. Award recognizes demonstrated excellence in the leadership of civilians and the accomplishment of the mission through the civilian workforce. It exemplifies both the highest traditions established by Mr. Macy during his long and distinguished career of public service, and the Army's philosophy that leaders are responsible for civilian human resource management. Mission accomplishment at every level of organized activity requires effective leadership. While the leader's qualities are often the focus of attention, the excellence of the team's mission performance, the growth of team members, and the esprit of the team are major indicators of leader effectiveness. This recognition is intended to identify and recognize role models whose teams set the standard for other leaders of our Soldier-Civilian teams.

The Award: The John W. Macy, Jr. Award recepient is awarded a Department of the Army certificate.

Eligibility: Any Department of the Army supervisor, civilian or military (GS-15 and Colonel or below), U.S. citizen or local national, appropriated or non-appropriated fund employee, is eligible for this award.

Basis for Selection: Eligible personnel may be nominated and considered in accordance with the following criteria:

  1. Specific Contribution: A specific contribution for which the team led by the nominee is responsible and which resulted in material improvements in such areas as Army mission support, military-civilian teamwork, customer service, productivity, EEO accomplishments, and/or enhancement of Army's reputation as an employer. The contribution must be one for which the nominee's team is responsible and which was accomplished because of the effective and caring leadership of the nominee. The contribution must have demonstrated, by specific examples, how the nominee's interaction with the civilians on the team "got the job done". The contribution must have culminated during the calendar year ending on 31 December of the nominating year.

  2. Sustained Accomplishments: A record of accomplishments, which reflect the extraordinary leadership of civilian personnel over a sustained period of time of more than the calendar year of the specific contribution.




WILLIAM H. KUSHNICK AND JOHN W. MACY, JR

NOMINATION PROCEDURES

Nomination Packets will be prepared and submitted as follows:

  1. Format: Each nomination package must:

    1. Be in MS Word format, be typed in 12 pitch and Arial font

    2. Be in electronic format and submitted to CP-10Proponency@conus.army.mil
  2. Contents: Each nomination package must contain:
    1. A cover sheet containing:
      1. Name of nominee
      2. Current position title and grade
      3. Employing organization
      4. Years of Federal service
      5. Organization address and location (include zip code and email address)
      6. Work telephone number (include area code and DSN)
      7. Education
      8. Awards and recognition
      9. Job progression in Army (descending order by service dates)
      10. A digital picture of the nominee
      11. Army Command (ACOM), the Army Service Component Command (ASCC) or the Civilian Personnel Director for the Office of the Administrative Assistant endorsement
      12. Comments


    2. One copy of DA Form 1256, Incentive Award Nomination and Approval

    3. Include a narrative description of the specific contribution which is the basis of the nomination (may not exceed five pages).

    4. Career accomplishments, including significant accomplishments in previous years

    5. Be personally endorsed by the ACOM, ASCC or the OAASA and submitted by the appropriate command POC.

    6. Proposed award citation




THE NICK HOGE AWARD

The Nick Hoge Award competition was created in memory of a promising young Civilian Human Resources manager whose attributes - innovation, imagination and personal courage - were notable. The Nick Hoge Award recognizes Department of the Army personnel who author and submit papers on matters relating to civilian personnel administration and management that are judged professionally significant and of value to the Army.

The Award: The Nick Hoge Award recepient is awarded a Department of the Army certificate.

Eligibility: All civilian and military employees, appropriated fund and non-appropriated fund, U.S. citizens and local nationals in the Department of the Army are eligible to submit professional papers.

Criteria for Judging: Criteria used in judging the papers are cited below. The numbers in parentheses are the weights that the panels will use when evaluating the papers. The weights for the four criteria add up to a total of 100 points.

  1. Originality (35 points maximum). The paper should present new ideas or a combination of ideas in a unique way, or describe a problem and present a solution, or describe a condition and present an unusual way of treating it, or develop a novel approach to civilian personnel management or administration. The paper should cite research conducted on the subject, if applicable, and document such research in footnotes and a bibliography.

  2. Quality of Writing (25 points maximum). Judging will be based primarily on content or how well the idea of the paper is developed and documented by research. However, consideration will be given to clarity of expression and proper use of language, as well as grammar, spelling, punctuation and word usage.

  3. Scope (20 points maximum). The paper should have broad coverage or application, affecting all organizations, programs, or the workforce in an Army command, or the entire Department of the Army if its ideas are adopted.

  4. Relevance and feasibility (20 points maximum). The paper should be relevant to contemporary Army and Federal civilian personnel management and administration. It should be realistic and practical in terms of potential application or implementation. The paper must include what the author expects the Army to do concerning the idea of the paper.




NICK HOGE PROFESSIONAL PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURES

Professional Papers will be submitted by the author's Army Command (ACOM), Army Service Component Command (ASCC), or the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army (OAASA) in electronic format to CP-10Proponency@conus.army.mil

Format:

  1. Each paper will have a separate cover sheet that will indicate:
    1. The title of the professional paper/subject
    2. The author's full name and title (e.g., Mr., Ms., Dr., or rank)
    3. The complete organizational address of the author to include office symbol and zip code
    4. The commercial and DSN phone numbers of the author


  2. Submissions will:
    1. Be electronically submitted
    2. Be double-spaced and typed in MS Word with each page numbered
    3. Be limited to twenty (20) typewritten pages, size 12 font, exclusive of title, summary and reference pages
    4. Contain a summary of the contents of the paper, prepared and submitted by the author to assist in the preparation of those papers selected for publication
    5. Be submitted to the author's ACOM, ASCC or OAASA for review of factual accuracy and narrative quality. Command points of contact should reject any paper that is not factually accurate
    6. Include a digital picture of the author
    7. Include one copy of DA Form 1256, Incentive Award Nomination and Approval
    8. Proposed award citation

Areas of Interest: Listed below are some areas of interest to the Department of the Army in which submission of papers are encouraged. This list is neither restrictive nor inclusive. Commands may add areas of specific command concern to the following list in announcing this competition to their employees.

  1. Strengthening the Army's initiatives in the development of the Civilian Corps
  2. Improving the leadership of the Civilian Corps
  3. Improving customer service in Civilian Human Resources (CHR) offices
  4. Reducing administrative costs of providing CHR services

  5. Enhancing the quality of work life for the Civilian Corps
  6. Revising or initiating system, program, and procedures to effect increased quantity or improved quality and timeliness of products or services relating to such aspects of CHR administration and management as the following:
    1. Recruitment and promotion
    2. Compensation management
    3. Career planning
    4. Performance management
    5. Managerial and supervisory development
    6. Employee motivation and recognition
    7. Handling complaints and grievances
    8. Labor relations
    9. Mobilization planning and preparedness
    10. Family member assistance
  7. Strengthening the Total Army team by melding the civilian and military personnel systems where feasible.




OVERALL SELECTION AND AWARD PRESENTATION INFORMATION

William H. Kushnick and John W. Macy, Jr. Awards Selection Process: The Assistant G-1 for Civilian Personnel will convene and chair a review board which will screen submissions for these awards. Nomination packages for each award category will be provided to selected committee members in sufficient time for them to read and study the nominations. The committee members will then meet to discuss and reach consensus on award recommendations to be forwarded to the Army Incentive Awards Board (AIAB). The AIAB will review the board recommendations and will forward its selection recommendations to the Secretary of the Army for approval.
Note:   Members of DA's Incentive Awards Board who serve on the pre-selection panel may not also serve on the final selection board for these awards.

Nick Hoge Professional Paper Award: The Assistant G-1 for Civilian Personnel will convene and chair a review panel which will screen each submission. Members of the Nick Hoge Award review panel will receive the professional paper submissions in advance of the panel meeting. The review panel will reject any paper that is not factually accurate. Panel recommendations will be forwarded to the ASA (M&RA) for final approval.

Presentation of the Awards: The Secretary of the Army or his designee will present the William H. Kushnick and John W. Macy, Jr. Awards. The ASA (M&RA) or his designee will present the Nick Hoge Professional Paper Award. The formal awards presentation ceremony normally takes place at the Pentagon and is held in May of the nominating year. This is followed by an awards banquet which normally takes place that evening at Fort McNair, Washington DC.