Each year, the statistical profession recognizes outstanding members at the Joint Statistical Meetings in an awards ceremony organized by the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS). Nominations are an important part of the process, and everyone can contribute—from the newly minted PhD graduate to the pharmaceutical statistician to the longtime professor. All statisticians see excellence in their mentors, colleagues, and management and it’s important to single out those persons who make exceptional contributions to the profession. So take a few minutes, review the various awards on tap this year, and see if you can identify worthy individuals. The following awards are being presented at the 2014 JSM in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Fisher Lectureship is awarded yearly for outstanding contributions to aspects of statistics and probability that closely relate to the scientific collection and interpretation of data. The award exists to recognize the importance of statistical methods for scientific investigations. The awardee’s hour-long lecture is delivered during JSM. Eligible nominations should be sent in PDF format by December 15, 2013 to the Fisher Award committee chair, Terry Speed at terry@stat.berkley.edu.

The Presidents’ Award is presented yearly in recognition of outstanding contributions to the statistics profession. It is typically granted to an individual who has not yet reached his or her 41st birthday. In the special case of an individual who has received his or her statistically related terminal degree fewer than 12 years prior to the nomination deadline, the individual will be eligible if he or she has not yet reached his or her 46th birthday during the year of the award. Eligible nominations should include a current curriculum vitae, the nominee’s date of birth, a nomination letter (up to three pages), and up to five supporting letters. Nominations should be sent in PDF format by January 15, 2014, to the Presidents’ Award committee chair. Ray Carroll at copsspresidents14@gmail.com

The Elizabeth L. Scott Award is presented biennially (even years) to an individual who has helped foster opportunities in statistics for women and exemplifies the contributions of Elizabeth Scott’s lifelong efforts to further the careers of women in academia. Nominations should be sent by January 15, 2014, to the Elizabeth Scott Award committee chair Shirley Mills at smills@math.carleton.ca These awards are jointly sponsored by the American Statistical Association, Institute of Mathematical Statistics, International Biometric Society (ENAR and WNAR), and Statistical Society of Canada. They represent a discipline-wide acknowledgement of the outstanding contributions of statisticians, regardless of their affiliations with any professional society. For detailed award criteria and nominating procedures, see the COPSS website at http://community.amstat.org/copss/home.