Rising Star Awards

These awards acknowledge outstanding contributions by individual staff.

The recipient will receive a certificate.

Nomination Requirements

  • Online Nomination Form - Within the form you will be asked to submit basic information on the nominee and the individual making the nomination (if different). You'll also upload the following documents:
    • Brief Bio (up to one page) addressing the accomplishments and ongoing work of the nominee. Include any CoSA-related involvement.
    • Letter of Support from one person (CoSA member or other) familiar with the nominee’s work.
    • Supporting materials (optional) could include nominee’s resume or fuller biography; illustrations of work products or promotional materials; press releases; or other materials. All such additional should be carefully selected and be directly related to the nomination.

Nomination & Selection

  • Any organization or individual is invited to nominate person(s), organization(s), or program(s) for any of CoSA’s awards.
  • Nomination of oneself or one’s organization is permissible and encouraged.
  • All nominations are submitted via the online form.
  • An Awards Committee, appointed by the CoSA president and chaired by the CoSA Immediate Past President, will review the nominations and select the recipients.
  • The number of awards for each category is at the discretion of the Awards Committee, and they reserve the right to make no awards.

Any questions may be directed to awards@statearchivists.org

2024 Nominations, Selection & Presentation Schedule

May 17, 2024: Deadline for nominations - 11:59pm Eastern Time

June 14, 2024: Notification of award recipients

September 18, 2024: Awards presented at CoSA Annual Meeting

Award Recipients

Joseph Sullivan & Matthew Storey
2023 Rising Star Award Recipients

2023

  • Matthew Storey, Archives Historian, State Archives of Florida
  • Joseph Sullivan, Information Resources Specialist II, Delaware Public Archives

2022

  • Claire Alderfer, Indiana State Archives
  • Rebecca Halbmaier, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives

2021

  • Cathy Popovitch, Illinois State Archives

2020

  • Becky Herbert, Alabama
  • Heaven Smith, Louisiana
  • Anne Wheeler, Louisiana
  • Alejandra Dean, Massachusetts

2019

  • Kate Telford, Rhode Island State Archives

2018

  • Elena Perez-Lizano, New Mexico Commission of Public Records

2017

  • Sidney James Irby, Georgia Archives

2016

  • Massachusetts Archives, Simmons College, and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissions, for their collaboration on the Massachusetts Municipal Clerks Archival Education Program

2015

  • No honoree selected

2014

  • Library of Virginia's Governor Timothy Kaine E-mail Project Team, for being the first state government archives to make emails of a previous gubernatorial administration freely available online

2013

  • Susan Laura Lugo, US Virgin Islands Division of Libraries, Archives, and Museums
  • Beth Shields, Kentucky State Archives
  • Rachel Trent, State Archives of North Carolina