Nominations

When to use nominations

Use nominations for awards where the community knows the candidates better than the candidates know they are contenders. Some examples:

• Volunteer of the Year, nominated by community members
• Business of the Year, nominated by customers
• Citizen Recognition awards

Direct apply, where the candidate self-applies, is more common for grants and scholarships. Both can run side by side on the same program.

How the flow works

1. A nominator visits your nominations URL and fills out a short nomination form. They provide their own info plus the nominee's name and email.
2. The nominee gets an email saying they have been nominated and inviting them to complete their application.
3. The nominee clicks the link, sees their nomination details pre-filled, and finishes the rest of the application.
4. From here, the submission flows like a self-applied one. You triage, assign reviewers, and pick winners the same way.

Setting up nominations

Each category can be configured as one of three modes:

• Direct apply only. Candidates apply themselves.
• Nomination only. Community nominates, then the nominee completes the rest.
• Both. Either path is accepted.

You set this in the program's Settings tab.

What the nominee sees

When the nominee clicks the email link, they see a friendly welcome message saying who nominated them and for what. The application is pre-populated with their name and any details the nominator provided. They just need to finish the remaining questions.