Early SRC Career Excellence Award

• TFA members who are within the first seven years (84 months) of their first appointment to a tenure-track position at TMU or a prior academic institution are eligible to be nominated for this award.
• Adjunct professors are not eligible.
• SRC contributions must be from within the first seven years (84 months) of the nominee’s academic career.
• The eligibility window can be adjusted for all eligible leaves (for example: maternity, parental, personal illness, leave taken by applicants for family-related illness, bereavement). Professional leaves (e.g. training, sabbatical, administrative) are not credited.
• Faculty who receive this award may not receive it again.
• In addition to the citation, award recipients shall prepare for the university community a brief description (200-300 words) of the scholarly, research or creative work for which they are receiving the award. This will be requested directly from the recipient by the OVPRI after they are notified of their award.

Candidates are nominated by two colleagues, a ‘Nominator’ and a ‘Seconder’. The Nominator is required to supply the information and documents as outlined below under Nomination Process and Nomination Package. A Seconder for each nomination is required and may assist the Nominator in preparing the nomination package. 

Please note:

• Either the Nominator or the Seconder must be external to the nominee’s home department or school.
• There is no option at any point in the nomination and review process to change the nominee’s award category.

Contributions to scholarly, research and creative achievement to be considered by the selection committee should include only include material from the beginning of their first academic appointment: the nominee’s academic career:

• Clear evidence of outstanding SRC activity (e.g. major external SRC funding, award, or recognition).
• Evidence of significant contributions(s) in the nominee’s scholarly, research or creative field, .taking into account the standards of the relevant field.
• Significant contribution(s) to the training and research careers of highly qualified personnel including undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, research scientists, research assistants and/or technical staff. , taking into account the standards of the relevant field.

1. Obtain the nominee’s consent to be nominated.
2. Complete the nomination package as described below.
3. Submit the nomination package via the Online Nomination Portal on the Recognition website.
4. The nominee will receive a confirmation email with a link to provide online consent. This step must be completed before the submission deadline.
5. Nominations submitted past the deadline (including the nominee’s consent) will not be accepted by the Review Committee.

The nomination should provide:

• Citation (100 word maximum) highlighting in brief how the nominee meets the criteria for this award, including any related key/notable achievements. This text will be used in the creation of related university communication should the nominee be selected.
• Supporting Statement (three page maximum) that explicitly describes how the nominee meets the award criteria. 
• Summary (two page maximum) of the originality and relevance of the project(s). Please also include a brief note about norms for the field, as these can vary across disciplines.
• The statement and summary should be written in language that can be understood by non-experts.
• The nominator has the option to provide up to a maximum of five supporting materials including, if appropriate, external appraisals of the nominee’s work and/or up to two significant publications. A publication is defined as a full-length article or book chapter (no page limit), either of which counts as one document. Non-publication supporting materials may not exceed ten pages in total.
• Nominees will be prompted by email to submit their CV after the initial nomination submission. Nominees will be asked to provide an updated abbreviated CV in CCV or OCGS format, highlighting in yellow the relevant key contributions related to the nomination. The service component may be removed from the abbreviated CV.

The award recipient(s) shall be recommended to the VPRI by the OVPRI Prizes and Awards Committee. Nominees are excluded from membership on this committee. Members of the Committee who are acting as a nominator must recuse themselves from all discussion related to the selection process for this award. The Committee may determine not to recommend an award in a particular academic year.

Nomination deadline: November 4, 2025 at noon
Recipient notified by: December 17, 2025
Award presentation: Celebration of Excellence; Toronto Met Awards Gala