Rising Star Awards

These awards acknowledge outstanding contributions by individual staff.

The recipient will receive a certificate.

Nomination Packet

Nominations must consist of the following, submitted as a single pdf file:

  1. Awards Program Nomination Form
  2. Brief Bio (up to one page) addressing the accomplishments and ongoing work of the nominee. Include any CoSA-related involvement.
  3. Letter of Support from one person (CoSA member or other) familiar with the nominee’s work.
  4. 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 email, combining the nomination form and additional materials into a single pdf.
  • 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.
  • Award recipients will be announced by May 9, 2023 with presentation of the awards taking place at the CoSA Annual Meeting.

Any questions may be directed to awards@statearchivists.org

2023 Nominations, Selection & Presentation Schedule

April 4, 2023: Deadline for nominations - Midnight Eastern Time

May 9, 2023: Notification of award recipients

July 2023: 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