APSE Awards: Submit Your Nominations

Each year, APSE honors individuals, organizations, and employers for their individual and collective contribution to Employment First. We invite nominations for the 2025 National APSE Conference: Employment First, Employment for All. All award submissions are due by Wednesday, April 15, 2026.

Submit Your Nomination Today!

Nomination Form

APSE Awards aim to honor those who have excelled and made significant contributions in the following categories (see awards category descriptions for more details):

Rebecca McDonald Award (Chapter leader)
Organizational Best Practice Award
Employer of the Year Award
Lois Curtis Advocacy Award (person with a disability)
Public Policy Leader Award
Wendy M. Wood Award (rising leader)
David Hammis Innovation Award
Got Mike! Emerging Scholar/Educational Leadership Award (sponsored by the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation)
Certified Employment Support Professional™ (CESP) of the Year Award

APSE will announce and recognize all award nominees at the 2026 National APSE Conference. Nominees will be made aware of their nomination on April 28, 2026.

Reviewers will consider each proposal on the quality of the narrative provided by the nominator, strong letters of support, adherence to APSE mission, and vision for employment equity. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. Please ensure you get an email confirming your submission, otherwise, your application may not have been received.

Thanks in advance for your consideration; we look forward to receiving your submissions!

Award Nomination Instructions

Deadline for nominations: Tuesday, April 15, 2026

Login at apse.smapply.organd under “Programs” select the APSE Awards to begin your application.
(Direct link: https://apse.smapply.org/prog/apse_awards/)
Confirm your email address - the confirmation email will come from info@apse.org. This is required to fully submit the application form.
Add contributors - if you’d like to have others participate in the completion of the nomination form you can add them as contributors!
Select the award category in which you are submitting your nomination online.
Answer the narrative questions addressing the award criteria under each award description. (250-word maximum per question)
Attach at least oneindividualized letter of support for your nominee. The letter of support must address the APSE award criteria.
Upload a photo of the nominee in jpg form on the application. This should be a high-quality photo of the nominee.
Once you’ve submitted you will receive a confirmation email. If you do not receive a confirmation email, your nomination has not been received.

Please submit nominations in as many of the categories as you would like. APSE strongly encourages that consideration be given to ensure that nominees reflect the full range of diversity across the field. Self-nominations will not be accepted.

Please reach out to info@apse.org if you have any difficulties entering the information online.

Call for Award Nomination Reviewers

APSE is currently seeking peer-reviewers for this year's award nominations. Interested? Contact Erica Belois-Pacer, Director of Professional Development and Training at erica@apse.org.