1. The Basics of Awards Write-ups
USPHS Honor Awards
The Basics of Awards Write-ups

2. Objective
To provide officers tools an understanding of importance of PHS Honor Awards
To provide officers tools on writing awards

3. Agenda Overview of PHS Awards Awards Approval Processes
Basics of Writing Awards
Awards and Career Planning

4. Relevant Documents
PHS Commissioned Corps Awards, CCPM Pamphlet No April
Commissioned Corps Instruction CC
There are other relevant documents on the CCMIS website, but these are the most generally applicable
Sample Awards

5. Agency Nomination Guidance
CDC Guidance on Writing Nominations
FDA Awards Nomination Process
NIH Awards Nomination Process

6. Types of Awards Honor Awards Service Awards Campaign Medals
Individual and Unit
General criteria, achievement/performance based
Officership achievements not usually included
Service Awards
Set criteria
Do not go through Agency awards boards
Campaign Medals
Training Awards
Regular Corps Ribbon
Special “addition”
With Valor

7. Honor Awards Individual Honor Awards Unit Honor Awards
Six for which Corps officers may be nominated: DSM, MSM, OSM, CM, AM, CIT.
Agency may approve CIT, AM, CM, OSM
Two additional awards for which there is no nomination process: SGM and SGESM.
No order in which an officer must receive these awards.
Unit Honor Awards
Two (UC, OUC)
Agency may approve UC

8. Importance Recognition by the United States of your work
Demonstrates leadership/ability
Awards are tied to the promotion process
O4 (AM and below)
O5 (CM and below)
O6 (OSM and below)
Unit awards important, but individual honor awards are specifically denoted in the Benchmarks
Awards are worth the time and effort

9. Individual Awards Requirements General requirements
PHS
Two page narrative
General requirements
Vary by agency/awards board
# of copies
Signatures on the forms
Criteria for approval
Check with your liaison or your awards board coordinator to get details
Two general criteria
Level of achievement
Length of time

10. Awards Criteria CIT AM CM Single achievement
Short time frame (1 week to a few months is typical) AM
sustained above-average accomplishment, superior performance
1-2 years is typical CM
high quality achievements
application of unique skill
noteworthy technical and professional contributions that are significant to a limited area
2 years time frame is typical
Usually Agency/state level impact

11. Awards Criteria OSM MSM DSM continuous outstanding leadership
National level impact
Time frame is typically 2-4 years
MSM
Meritorious achievement
Usually a career wrap award
Time frame is typically many years
DSM
exceedingly high level of achievement
Often multi-national impact
Time frame is typically several years but varies

12. The Narrative Most important part of the award
Describes what you’ve done and WHY IT MATTERS
The hardest to write
Your audience may be very diverse in background
Anyone who reads it should understand what you’ve done
Clear, concise writing is critical
Limited to two pages, 1” margins
Suggested font Times New Roman ( font)

13. A Good Narrative Citation Background Body Conclusion
What you’ve been awarded for
Must match 6342 citation verbatim
Background
Short paragraph that provides the reader the setting of the award.
Body
3-4 general sections describing broad achievements
General sections include accomplishments an impacts
Conclusion
VERY short section that reiterates that you are highly deserving of the award for what you’ve done

14. Writing Style Concise, clear Time Anchors Avoid Quantify
Sentences should be 1-2 lines long
Longer sentences are hard to follow
Time Anchors
Tells the reader how long it took to do the job
Use intermittently throughout
Avoid
Jargon (collaboration, consensus)
Praise language (enthusiastically, energetically)
Quantify
Numbers help readers understand the scale of effort
Bullets vs paragraph format
Find out which your board prefers

15. Accomplishments These are things that were done
First person, active verb
Include your specific role
What did you actually do (or lead)
Quantify when possible
For prolonged or extensive efforts
Use the phrase “For example,….”
Must be more than just doing your normal duty
Must have an impact associated with it
13-month window following the end of the accomplishments to submit the award.
No overlap with previous awards.

16. Impacts THE BIG QUESTION—SO WHAT???
Why are your accomplishments award-worthy
Every sentence should read or have implied
“As a result”
“Therefore”
“Because of”
Use numbers
How much reduction in morbidity/mortality
How much money saved
How many people trained
How much improvement made

17. Common Problems Accomplishments too vague Impacts not well described
Not clear what you actually did
Praise language
Impacts not well described
Not clear why your work was important
Too technical
Awards boards usually have broad background
Mixed impacts/accomplishments
Obtaining funding, publishing is an accomplishment, is an accomplishment, not impact
Level of proposed award does not match accomplishments
May be downgraded (but sometimes is upgraded)
Overlap with previous awards (career wrap may be excepted)

18. Effort The officer should always be involved in the write-up
You know what you did and why it was important
Listen to your awards board coordinator
They know what will pass and what will not
Plan on 2-3 full days and several iterations
Spell check/grammar check

19. The 6342 Citation limited to 25 words
At least one supervisory signature
Check your agency’s procedures
Original signatures needed
Award may require secondary concurrence if work was under a different supervisor than your current one
Second page awards
No service/training awards

20. Unit Awards Same rules/principles apply
Same writing styles
Same do’s and don’ts
UC is agency level while OUC must be approved by CC Awards Board
Note that the form is (not )
Separate 6342 page 2 for each officer on the team
Non PHS officers should be included
Listed on separate sheet
Coordinate with your Awards Board Liaison to determine your agency’s practices

21. Awards and Career Planning
Know your benchmarks
Target the appropriate award level before you go up for promotion
Higher level awards require rolling together long periods of work
Know the importance of an award level relative to your career
A CM for an O-3 is great, but a CIT for an O-6 provides minimal bang for the buck
Continuity of awards
A Benchmark but does not mean you need a CIT, then AM, then CM
Unit Awards provide value as well
Get involved in team efforts

22. Summary Honor Awards are important to your career
Approval process varies
Work with your awards board liaison
Writing style of narrative is very important
Takes time, effort, but worth it
Develop an awards “strategy” as part of your career planning