IPMS LogoInternational Plastic Modelers' Society / USA

IPMS LogoInternational Plastic Modelers' Society / USA

IPMS LogoIPMS/USA

IPMS LogoIPMS/USA

Each year, the IPMS/USA Executive Board is pleased to present several Special Achievement Awards at the annual National Convention.

Award Cycle and Nomination Process

The Award cycle begins January 1 of the preceding year and ends December 31 of the preceding year. All nominations for all awards are due to the Director of Local Chapters (dlc@ipmsusa.org) no later than March 15th of the current year. Example: for the awards to be handed out at the 2015 Nationals in Columbus, Ohio, award cycle for 2014 runs from Jan 1, 2014 to Dec 31, 2014.

The nomination process begins at the Regional level, with regional nominations being submitted to the Regional Coordinator by the local Chapters or individual IPMS members. Regional Coordinators will select a Regional recipient for the Chapter of the Year Award, the Newsletter of the Year Award, and the Webmaster of the Year Award, and those winners become that Region's nominees for the national awards.

The RCs are responsible for ensuring that a nomination for all three awards is submitted for their region, and that the nominations are accompanied by supporting documentation. A nomination that has supporting documentation has a distinct advantage over a nomination that simply listed a chapter name or the name of a chapter member.

Guidelines that the EB will use to select the national recipients for awards.


Mike Rastiello Chapter of the Year Award

This annual award is presented to the IPMS/USA chapter that best exemplifies the spirit and philosophy of IPMS/USA.

Documentation for this award may include, but not be limited to, such information as:

  1. A couple of key words here: PROMOTION and SERVICE. We want to recognize chapters that PROMOTE both the plastic modeling hobby and our Society. We also want to recognize chapters that provide SERVICE to their communities.
  2. PROMOTION EFFORTS - Don’t just say, “We promote modeling”. WHAT do you do? HOW do you get the “closet modeler” out of hiding? HOW do you encourage modeling as a mainstream leisure activity? WHAT do you do to actively encourage youngsters to begin building, or attract older modelers back to the hobby of their youth? WHAT are your organized promotion efforts? Don’t just tell us that you have mall shows- members sitting around talking to each other inside a corral of models is not effective contact with the public! WHAT do you do to make one-on-one contact with outsiders? HOW do you use local media - TV, newspaper articles, etc., to promote the hobby, and your group? WHAT programs do you have aimed at various age groups? ABC courses, Make and Take activities, public and parochial schools events, Boy, Girl, and Cub Scouts, church youth programs, veterans’ groups at VA hospitals, are all good possibilities-there are many others.
  3. IPMS membership within the club: Ten IPMS members in a club that has 12 or 13 total total members on its roster in a small city shows more commitment to IPMS/USA than fifteen national members of in a club of fifty in a major metropolitan area. WHAT increase in IPMS/USA membership have you achieved, and over what period? HOW do you actively recruit the non-members already in your group? WHAT INCENTIVES for IPMS/USA membership- discount local chapter dues, discount contest registration, extra raffle tickets, etc.- do you use? Show verification that all officers (or leaders, if no officers exist) and the Chapter Contact are IPMS members with their membership being active between April 1st and August 31st. This guarantees that the leadership of the local club are IPMS members at the time of selection and presentation of this award.
  4. COMMUNITY SERVICE - HOW do you support your community in other ways? WHAT volunteer work do members do? This doesn’t mean JUST making cash donations; while donating money to worthy causes is commendable, actually having members of your group participating in these activities (litter clean-up campaigns, volunteer work with charitable organizations, fund drives, etc.) is even better! An important point - helping to give self-esteem to a disabled veteran or a handicapped child, by showing them that he or she is capable of doing a complex task like building a model, will make your club look good. But the inner glow your members get will be even better! Don’t forget that the award is NOT about how well a collection of individuals build models; it reflects how well a group is functioning as a social unit.
  5. List of any chapter members who serve IPMS/USA as appointed IPMS Staff, such as Journal staff, Website staff, Forum staff, members of the Reviewer Corps, or other jobs of a similar and non-elective nature.
  6. Chapter support for IPMS/USA through sponsorship of individual membership drives, payment of IPMS membership fees, or membership incentive programs.
  7. Chapter support through the prominent placement of an IPMS/USA membership application within chapter publication and on its website.
  8. Hosting an MnT event, an ABC event, a contest which uses, for the most part, IPMS judging guidelines and category/class structures, a Regional Convention, or a national convention.
  9. Support of the Events gallery, the Walkaround gallery, the Member’s Gallery, and other “galleries” and “albums” that are hosted on the IPMS website.
  10. Participation by a chapter member, or by the chapter as a whole, in such IPMS initiatives as “Support the Troops”.
  11. Positive and cooperative relationships with chapters within their Regions, geographic area, and with the national level of IPMS/USA
  12. PRESENTATION - Now it’s important to remember that you must convince others - the E-Board - how good you are! In other words, your PRESENTATION can be as important as WHAT YOU DID! It is STRONGLY suggested that the WHOLE chapter get involved in this project. Some individual must have overall responsibility, of course, but at least several others should be involved in the actual writing and editing of the nomination. First, this will prevent details from being forgotten or overlooked; secondly, it will help prevent spelling and other errors. Don’t just saddle one guy with the project.

View the list of Previous Recipients of the Chapter of the Year Award.


Newsletter of the Year Award

This annual award is presented to the IPMS/USA chapter and editor of the newsletter than best exemplifies the goals and spirit of IPMS/USA.

Documentation for this award may include, but not be limited to, such information as:

  1. The editor is a current IPMS member and will be so at the time of the presentation of the award which takes place at the National Convention. (The winner need not be in attendance to “win”. The award will be sent to the chosen recipient.)
  2. At these three (3) copies of the newsletter that show attention to spelling, grammar, and appropriate content for readers of all ages.
  3. Support through the prominent placement of an IPMS/USA membership application within chapter publications.
  4. Listing of the IPMS/USA website url.
  5. Inclusion of messages from the IPMS Regional Coordinator.
  6. Inclusion of a complete list of Chapter Officers (some Chapters do not have official officers and that will not have a negative impact on consideration for any IPMS sponsored award) and Chapter Contact.
  7. Evidence of a positive and cooperative relationship with other chapters within their Region and geographic area by the inclusion of information related to contests and events hosted by neighboring chapters.
  8. A track record of on-time publication and distribution of the newsletter.
  9. Appearance, aided by a layout, images, and text, which have eye appeal and lend a “professional” quality to the publication.

View the list of Previous Recipients of the Newsletter of the Year Award.


Region Coordinator of The Year

The Regional Coordinator of the Year is selected by the Director of Local Chapters, based on several aspects of their performance. Among the areas reviewed are the RC?s level and quality of activity with the DLC, the level of RC's efforts in coordinating Contests and Shows with the DLC, the degree of assistance afforded to the DLC in the formation of any new Chapters, and the level to which the RC's keep their Chapters informed of happenings between the DLC and the Regions.

View the list of Previous Recipients of the Region Coordinator of the Year Award.


Ralph Forehand Website of the Year Award

This annual award is presented to the webmaster whose chapter website best exemplifies the goals and spirit of IPMS/USA.

Documentation for this award may include, but not be limited to, such information as:

  1. The webmaster is a current IPMS member and will be so at the time of the presentation of the award.
  2. Maintenance of an accurate and working url which is routinely checked and authenticated by the local chapter.
  3. No broken links within the chapter website and evidence of routine maintenance within the website.
  4. Ease of navigation and a design that can be termed “user friendly”
  5. Support for IPMS/USA as evidenced by the prominent inclusion of a link to the IPMS/USA website, and as evidenced by a positive representation of IPMS/USA in general.
  6. Inclusion of fresh content as well as archival information related to the history of the chapter.
  7. Features which encourage modelers to visit the website and encourage modelers to join the local chapter and join IPMS/USA.
  8. Evidence of support for other IPMS chapters within their region and geographic area.

View the list of Previous Recipients of the Website of the Year Award.


IPMS/USA National Member of The Year

This person is selected by the Executive Board once a year from national members nominated by other national members. The nominee MUST be a national member the year s/he is nominated and selected. The criteria to be evaluated are:

  1. Chapter involvement. Examples: chapter officer, newsletter editor, web master, event or committee chairman, does presentations at chapter meetings, attendance at chapter functions, etc. The person is a self-starter. They volunteer and don’t necessarily wait to be asked. They actively recruit new members or make sure any new member feels welcome in the group.
  2. Regional/National Involvement. Examples: working at regional/national conventions, writing an article for the Journal, being part of the Review Corps, being an IPMS/USA web site moderator, being a 25 or 50-year national member, etc.
  3. Community Involvement. They actively promote IPMS/USA in the community through participation in events designed to present IPMS/USA to the public, such as displays at libraries or museums, working with scouting and/or veteran’s groups, doing instructional programs, etc.
  4. A person cannot win the award more than once and a winner may not come from any given chapter more than once in five years. Current and former national Executive Board members are not eligible for this award.

The selection process will be:

A national member obtains a Member of the Year nominating petition blank from the IPMS/USA web site or from the IPMS/USA Recruitment/Retention Secretary. They complete the form, including a written statement as to why the candidate should be considered, and obtain the signatures and IPMS numbers of at least 15 members. When complete, the form is submitted to the Executive Board either via email to the Recruitment/Retention Secretary at (email TBD) or via snail mail to the IPMS/USA mail box. To be considered for any given year, a nomination must be received no later than two months before the next national convention.

The winner will be announced at the next national convention’s awards ceremony. The winner’s name and an extract of the nomination will be published in the national convention issue of the Journal and the winner will receive a specially colored IPMS/USA National name badge with their name and IPMS number on it along with “Member of the Year” and the year awarded.

IPMS/USA National Member of The Year Nomination Form

View the list of Previous Recipients of the IPMS/USA National Member of The Year.