The Awards Policy defines a “member of the Queen’s Community” as any student, alumni, staff, faculty, co-workers, supervisors and members of the public who have an interest or stake in the University.

In general yes, AMS awards are intended for undergraduate students! However, the following exceptions apply:

• Frank Knox Excellence in Teaching: Open to instructors regardless of level of appointment.
• Christopher Knapper Award for Excellence in Teaching: Open to teaching assistants.
• Undergraduate Research Mentorship Award: Open to instructors regardless of level of appointment.
• Civic Responsibility Award: Open to any student either undergraduate or SGPS, faculty member or Kingston resident.
• Club Awards: Open to any graduate or undergraduate student who has paid their AMS or SGPS membership fees.
• AMS Staff Award: Open to all AMS employee regardless of their level of appointment and who have paid their AMS membership fee.

No … The Chief Governance Officer acts as a non-voting, ex-officio observer of all selection committees to ensure that conflict of interests are properly disclosed. Awards are not intended to create a popularity contest, and decisions are made solely on the nomination information submitted to committees.

Please note that the Secretariat will enable/disable these forms at the start/close of each nomination cycle. All forms are presently unavailable due to the Fall Nomination period not opening until October 2026. So stay tuned, until then!

While we require you to disclose your identity to us, in order for us to verify your eligibility to make a nomination; the identity of all nominators is kept confidential. The only exception is for the AMS Staff Award in which we will reach out and confirm whether you would like your nomination letter(s) shared with the recipient.

Additionally, after the Academic term is finished, all identifying information from the nominations are destroyed following our Information Management Policy.

You are encouraged to check the terms and requirements for each award as outlined in the Awards Policy. In general, only the following awards accept self-nominations:

• Equity Awards
• Seven Grandfather Teachings Award
• Accessibility Champion Award

In general, most awards require at least one nominator who is an undergraduate student and who has paid their AMS membership fees. However the following exceptions apply:

Club Awards: any graduate or undergraduate student who has paid their AMS or SGPS fees can participate in this process.

AMS Staff Award, AMS Letter Award, AMS Volunteer Awards: To be considered for this award, at least two students must co-sign a nomination letter OR at least two separate letters signed by an undergraduate student must be submitted. The remainder of nomination letters can be made by any member of the Queen’s Community. 

AMS Teaching Awards: At least one nomination must be made by an undergraduate student. The second nomination can be made by any member of the Queen’s Community. 

Civic Responsibility Award, Environmental Champion: Any member of the Queen’s Community can make a nomination.

Awardees will be announced by end of March to mid April prior to the April Awards Gala (date TBD).

A News Update will be made on the AMS website detailing decisions of the Selection Committees, alongside a section dedicated to recipients.

Please note that some awards require approval from AMS Assembly, and a formal announcement may be with-held until the ratification of the decision on April 6th, 2027 Assembly.

Great question! We take privacy and confidentiality very seriously, and the Secretariat works closely with the Vice President of University Affairs and the Information Officer for record management. Here’s a snapshot of the process:

– All members of Selection Committees are asked to sign a Confidentiality Agreement, stored with the Secretariat. The Agreement requires members of committees to not disclose any information about nominees, nominators or the selection process.

– All records are destroyed by April 30th of each academic year. The only information retained is aggregate demographic info (ex. number of applications, faculty association, etc..). The information retained is non-identifiable, and cannot be traced back to you or the nominee.

– There is limited access to each Formstack and relevant applications.

– The Chief Governance Officer is responsible to facilitate all information sharing for committees via non-downloadable links.

– If you have any further questions or concerns, please email the ">Secretariat.

Thank you for engaging with the AMS Awards process! Your contributions will allow the AMS to select truly outstanding winners who have gone above and beyond to recognize.

If you have submitted your application, please ensure that you received a confirmation email. If you have not received a confirmation email, please contact to verify your submission went through.

Otherwise, be patient! The Selection Committees have an established outlined timeline that allows them to meaningfully convene and make a decision. If you do not hear back by April 6th (at the latest) , please contact the Secretariat immediately.