University alumni relations offices
Invite the campus community to nominate graduates who have achieved exceptional professional distinction and brought honor to the institution through their career accomplishments.
Alumni Award Nomination Form Template
An alumni award nomination form makes it easy for your community to recognize outstanding graduates in a structured, equitable way. This template guides nominators through providing nominator information, nominee details, award category, and three distinct narrative sections — merit, accomplishments, and impact — so your selection committee receives complete, comparable nominations rather than scattered emails and informal suggestions.
Free for non-commercial projects, with unlimited forms and responses.
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About this template
Alumni award programs are among the most visible and meaningful recognition initiatives an institution can run. A well-executed awards ceremony celebrates the breadth of what graduates go on to achieve, strengthens the bond between the institution and its most accomplished alumni, and gives the entire community a reason to gather and take pride in belonging. But the quality of an awards program is only as good as the nominations it receives — and nominations are only as good as the process that collects them.
More about this template
A structured alumni award nomination form solves the most common failure mode of award programs: vague, thin nominations that leave selection committees guessing. By asking for three distinct narrative sections — why the nominee deserves the award, their specific accomplishments, and their impact on community or field — the form naturally guides nominators to build compelling, evidence-based cases. This structure levels the playing field between nominees who are well-known inside the institution and nominees whose achievements have taken place far from campus.
formformform makes it straightforward to design and launch an award nomination form without any technical support. Post the link in your alumni newsletter, on your alumni association website, and through social media during your open nomination window. All submissions are stored securely in your dashboard, exportable as a spreadsheet for committee distribution, and available for review at any time. Whether you receive ten nominations or ten thousand, the process stays organized and equitable.
12 fields to make your own10 required in this starting form
Make it fit your workflow.
Use your own copy to change labels, remove questions and add the details you need. Try the preview alongside this guide to see what respondents will be asked.
The questions, explained
Fields in this template
Review the starting questions and choices. You can change them in your own copy.
Your Full Name
Thomas Wright
Your Email Address
thomas@email.com
Your Graduation Year
2001
Nominee's Full Name
Dr. Sarah Kim
Nominee's Email Address (if known)
sarah@email.com
Nominee's Graduation Year
1999
Nominee's Current Employer and Title
Chief Medical Officer, General Hospital
Award Category
9 choices
- Distinguished Alumni Award (career achievement)
- Young Alumni Award (outstanding achievement within 10 years of graduation)
- Community Impact Award (service and civic leadership)
- Entrepreneurship Award (founder or business innovation)
- Educator of the Year (teaching and mentorship)
- Lifetime Achievement Award
- Alumni of Color Excellence Award
- Public Service and Government Award
- Other
Why Does This Nominee Deserve This Award?
Describe your relationship to the nominee and summarize why they are an exceptional candidate for this award...
Specific Accomplishments and Milestones
List concrete achievements — publications, companies founded, awards received, positions held, projects completed, community programs launched...
Impact on Community, Field, or Institution
How has the nominee's work made a measurable or meaningful difference for others — their profession, their community, or the institution they represent?
Is the Nominee Aware of This Nomination?
3 choices
- Yes, they know and have consented
- No, this is a surprise nomination
- I'm not sure
Where it fits
Who uses this template
Suggested uses, and why this starting point can help. Adapt the questions to your own process.
College and school award committees
Recognize JD alumni who have dedicated significant time to pro bono legal service, public interest law, or access-to-justice advocacy beyond the requirements of their employment.
Professional association awards programs
Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “Nominee's Current Employer and Title” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
Alumni chapter boards recognizing outstanding members
Honor K-12 teachers and administrators who are alumni of the education school and have demonstrated extraordinary student outcomes, innovative teaching, or leadership in their school communities.
Foundation and development offices running recognition programs
Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “Why Does This Nominee Deserve This Award?” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
Department-level alumni award coordinators
Invite the campus community to nominate graduates who have achieved exceptional professional distinction and brought honor to the institution through their career accomplishments.
Student affairs offices running alumni achievement programs
Recognize graduates within ten years of commencement who have made a remarkable early impact in their field, community, or entrepreneurial ventures.
Honorary degree and distinction committees
Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “Is the Nominee Aware of This Nomination?” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
What's included
Separate nominator and nominee information sections for clarity
Customizable award category dropdown covering achievement, service, entrepreneurship, and more
Three structured narrative fields for merit, accomplishments, and community impact
Nominee awareness field to manage surprise vs. consensual nominations
Nominee contact information capture to facilitate outreach if selected
Instant notification to awards committee on each nomination received
All nominations exportable for committee review and scoring
Unlimited nominations — open calls to the full alumni community with no submission cap
How to create an alumni award nomination form
- 1
Click "Use this template" to open the alumni award nomination form in your free formformform account.
- 2
Update the award category dropdown to reflect your institution's specific awards — add, remove, or rename categories to match your program's recognition tiers.
- 3
Customize the nomination narrative prompts if your selection criteria differ — for example, a community impact award might lead with the impact question rather than general merit.
- 4
Add a deadline paragraph at the top of the form reminding nominators when submissions close to drive urgency during your nomination window.
- 5
Configure your notification email to alert the awards committee or alumni office coordinator immediately when a nomination is submitted.
- 6
Close the form after your nomination deadline and export all submissions as a CSV to distribute to your selection committee for scoring.
Best practices for your alumni award nomination form
Structure narrative prompts specifically
generic prompts like 'tell us about the nominee' produce generic responses. The three-section approach (why, accomplishments, impact) reliably produces richer, more comparable nominations.
Open nominations publicly
the most deserving nominees are often outside the immediate circle of alumni office staff. Broad, public nomination calls surface candidates that internal recommendation alone would miss.
Ask if the nominee is aware
surprise nominations carry a risk that the nominee declines if selected. Knowing in advance allows the committee to prepare appropriately.
Set a firm deadline and advertise it early
nomination forms with no visible deadline receive a disproportionate share of submissions in the final 48 hours, many of which are rushed and weak.
Acknowledge every nomination
a simple auto-reply confirming receipt makes nominators feel their effort was respected, even if their candidate is not ultimately selected.
Retain nominations year-over-year
strong candidates who aren't selected in a given year are excellent candidates the following year. Export and archive submissions after each cycle.
12 form ideas you can build with this template
University Distinguished Alumni Award Nomination
Invite the campus community to nominate graduates who have achieved exceptional professional distinction and brought honor to the institution through their career accomplishments.
Young Alumni Achievement Award Nomination
Recognize graduates within ten years of commencement who have made a remarkable early impact in their field, community, or entrepreneurial ventures.
College of Engineering Alumni Hall of Fame Nomination
Collect nominations for department-level hall of fame induction highlighting engineering alumni whose innovations have advanced the profession or made a measurable industry impact.
Law School Pro Bono Service Award Nomination
Recognize JD alumni who have dedicated significant time to pro bono legal service, public interest law, or access-to-justice advocacy beyond the requirements of their employment.
Medical School Physician Humanitarian Award Nomination
Nominate physician alumni who have demonstrated exceptional service to underserved populations, global health, or community medicine beyond the scope of their clinical practice.
Community College Alumni Community Champion Award Nomination
Honor two-year college alumni who have made a lasting impact on their local communities through civic leadership, nonprofit work, or grassroots organizing.
HBCU Alumni Excellence Award Nomination
Celebrate the achievements of graduates who have broken barriers in their fields, advanced equity and representation, or served as powerful ambassadors of the institution's mission.
Business School Entrepreneurship Award Nomination
Recognize alumni founders who have built companies that created jobs, disrupted industries, or generated social impact aligned with values of ethical entrepreneurship.
Education School Outstanding Educator Nomination
Honor K-12 teachers and administrators who are alumni of the education school and have demonstrated extraordinary student outcomes, innovative teaching, or leadership in their school communities.
Veteran Alumni Distinguished Service Nomination
Recognize military veteran alumni whose service, leadership, and post-military career have reflected the values and mission of the institution and the armed forces.
Alumni Association Volunteer of the Year Nomination
Nominate alumni who have given exceptional time and energy to the alumni association through event leadership, chapter organization, mentoring, or fundraising.
International Alumni Achievement Award Nomination
Celebrate alumni living and working outside the country of the institution who have achieved distinction in their adopted country or made significant contributions to international fields.
Frequently asked questions
Can I allow self-nominations with this form?
Yes. Add a checkbox at the top asking "Is this a self-nomination?" or simply instruct alumni that self-nominations are welcome in the introductory paragraph. The form structure works equally well for self-nominees completing the nominator section with their own information.
How do I prevent duplicate nominations for the same person?
Multiple nominators submitting for the same nominee is generally a sign of strong support, not a problem. Your selection committee can identify and merge duplicate nominations during review. Export the submissions and sort by nominee name to identify duplicates quickly.
Can nominators attach supporting materials like articles or a CV?
formformform collects text-based responses. For supporting documents, add a short text field asking for a link to a LinkedIn profile, personal website, or Google Drive folder where the nominator can share additional materials.
Is there a way to set up the form so only alumni can submit nominations?
The form is publicly accessible by default. For restricted nomination programs, share the link only via authenticated alumni portal pages or include a unique access code in the URL that you distribute through your closed alumni email list.
How should I handle nominations received after the deadline?
Close the form on your deadline date to prevent late submissions automatically. If you prefer to accept late submissions on a case-by-case basis, keep the form open but include a clear deadline date in the form instructions.
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