Charge

The Awards Committee subcommittees will apply the criteria established by the Board of Directors for each association honor and award to each nomination received for each award under its purview and make recommendations to the Board regarding award recipients.

The Board's determined charge for each Awards Committee Subcommittee is:

• Review award nominations* received for each award that falls under the subcommittee's purview against the applicable criteria established by the Board.
• Recommend potential recipients to the Board for final approval.**
• When requested by the Board, review and make recommendations on proposals for new awards applicable to the subcommittee's award category and provide feedback on the utility of the criteria and measurement tools for existing awards within the subcommittee's purview.
• Submit a report to the Board on an annual basis

*A nomination is the packet of materials submitted to APTA in response to the association's annual call for nominations for its honors and awards program. Each subcommittee works independently to review the received nominations that fall within its purview.

**A recommendation is what each Awards Committee Subcommittee brings to the Board after it has completed its review of all nominations for each honor or award under its purview. It is the Board's responsibility to either accept or reject recommendations.

Committee Specific Charge

The Practice and Service Awards Subcommittee will review nominations received for the following awards:

• Henry O. and Florence P. Kendall Practice Award: The Henry O. and Florence P. Kendall Practice Award recognizes a physical therapy professional who has engaged in extensive clinical practice for a minimum of 15 years. Recipients of this award embody and demonstrate a commitment to developing physical therapy as a caring profession.
• Lucy Blair Service Award: The Lucy Blair Service Award honors physical therapist members or physical therapist life members whose contributions to APTA are of exceptional quality. Qualifying contributions can pertain to association components, through work on appointed or elected positions and/or in other capacities at the association and component levels.
• Marilyn Moffat Leadership Award: The Marilyn Moffat Leadership Award honors an individual held in high regard by his or her peers for distinguished leadership and significant contributions to the physical therapy profession and the association.
• Outstanding Physical Therapist Assistant Award: The Outstanding Physical Therapist Assistant Award recognizes a physical therapist assistant who has provided clinical services for a minimum of 5 years. This award honors individual achievements in the areas of patient care, community service, and commitment toward the profession and association.
• Outstanding Physical Therapist/Physical Therapist Assistant Team Award: The Outstanding Physical Therapist/Physical Therapist Assistant Team Award honors professionals who have individually provided clinical service for a minimum of 5 years, and have positively affected the quality of physical therapy through their combined teamwork during a period of at least 3 years.  This award recognizes a PT/PTA team whose positive work has contributed to the delivery of high-quality physical therapist services.
• APTA Humanitarian Award: Established in 2017, the APTA Humanitarian Award contributes to the association’s mission of advancing physical therapy by recognizing member efforts that focus on achieving a broad global impact upon humanity. This award will honor individuals who exemplify the compassionate nature of the physical therapy profession by actively expressing a commitment to humanity and exhibiting admirable degrees of selflessness in addressing key health concerns.
• APTA Societal Impact Award: Established in 2017, the APTA Societal Impact Award fosters the association's outward-facing vision and highlights the impact of physical therapy in improving quality of life. This award specifically recognizes individuals who exemplify the compassionate nature of the physical therapy profession by exhibiting a distinguished commitment toward philanthropic initiatives, raising public awareness on key societal issues, and demonstrating how physical therapy can be applied to address these issues.

All APTA appointed groups will conduct their work with APTA's Commitment to Increasing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in mind and in the context of (1) APTA's Mission, Vision, Strategic Plan and House of Delegates and Board of Directors adopted positions and policies; and (2) the potential for their work to have implications related to physical therapist assistants, women, diversity, and risk management.

Size of Appointed Group

This subcommittee has six members, one of which is a Maryland Chapter representative who participates in the review and recommendation process for only the Henry O. and Florence P. Kendall Practice Award (when a qualified chapter representative is identified).

This Board-appointed group does not have a Board chair in order to avoid any conflict of interest or impropriety because the Board is the body that approves the association’s honors and awards recipients. In addition, the group comprises 8 subcommittees, due to the independent nature of this group's work, it will not have a single chair overseeing the group. Rather, staff assists each subcommittee to identify a member volunteer to serve as the lead for the respective subcommittee and each lead works with the staff liaisons as needed to manage the work of their particular subcommittee.

The role of the Board Liaison is to serve as a conduit between the Board and the Awards Committee and assist in special projects such as the review and revision of awards policies. The Board liaison does not participate in subcommittee conversations related to nominees, and does not review the nominations received for each award.

The APTA president serves as ex-officio, as outlined in the APTA bylaws. In the role as ex-officio to the Awards Committee the APTA president may take part in certain committee functions but does not review, propose, or participate in subcommittee conversations related to nominees for awards.

View Committee and Appointed Group Rosters

Term of Appointees

Individuals appointed to this committee shall serve a two year term. No individual shall serve more than two consecutive terms.

Meetings

This subcommittee meets approximately two times per year via conference call for one hour in the winter and spring.

Additional Information

For additional information regarding this and other APTA volunteer opportunities, email appointedgrouppool@apta.org.