ESA Honorary Members

The deadline to submit your complete application is April 17 Annually at 11:59 PM EST.  

Start an Honorary Member Nomination

Those holding the title of Honorary Member receive complimentary lifetime membership to ESA. At the Annual Meeting, new Honorary Members are presented with an inscribed plaque and an Honorary Member pin. In the year in which the honor is bestowed, the Honorary Member receives complimentary registration to the Annual Meeting.

Per the ESA Society Policy Manual, honorary membership may be conferred on regular members and emeritus members who

• are in good standing with the Society
• have had significant involvement in the affairs of the Society that rise to an extraordinary level.

The most telling criterion for selection as an Honorary Member is the quality of service to ESA. The appropriate level of this service is not any set quantity of volunteer, committee, or governance activities or offices held. Rather, significant involvement is defined by a recognizable level of extraordinary service to, and impact on, the Society over a period of 20 years. Service contributed to multiple activities during concurrent years can be treated as separate contributions. It is the duty of both the nominator(s) to explain and the committee to evaluate the nominee’s record of service and judge whether the level of involvement is extraordinary.

The number of Honorary Members cannot exceed 1 percent of the total ESA membership and, therefore, recipients must reflect the highest level of extraordinary contribution to the Society. If the number of Honorary Members reaches 1 percent of the total membership, the Society may elect only one honoree per year until such time that the total number of honorees is less than 1 percent of the total membership. It is recommended that no more than three Honorary Memberships are granted in any given year unless compelling rationale is presented for why that number should be exceeded. In years in which the Honorary Member Judging Panel feels that none of the nominees meet the minimum qualification, they are empowered to not recommend any nominees for that year.

The Board further empowers the Honorary Member Judging Panel to make the annual recommendations as a slate. The Board shall approve or reject the annual slate as-is without seeking to redo the work of the Honorary Member Judging Panel.

Honorary Membership is regarded as ESA's highest service and is not bestowed lightly; proposals should be carefully prepared and factual in their presentation of information about the candidate. Any ESA member may submit a nomination.

All nominators and nominees will be required to sign the professional conduct disclosure form.

The nomination package must include:

1. Letter of Nomination (maximum of two pages)
2. Name, address, phone number, and e-mail address of nominee
3. Letters from 2-4 individuals endorsing the candidate and answering the question, “How is ESA a different organization today as a result of the nominee’s efforts?” Each letter should be a maximum of two pages.
4. A 750 maximum word biography of the candidate that will be posted on the national elections (if applicable).  The biographical sketch should contain the candidate's education, employment, area(s) of interest, and accomplishments in entomology as well a description of candidate’s activity with ESA (e.g., membership, participation, volunteer activity) and activity with other organizations (scientific or other). 
5. A high quality head shot of the candidate that will be posted on the national elections (if applicable). 
6. A recent CV that included the the below items:

• Professional positions (descriptions of positions held, employers, and years held)
• Detailed ESA service record, including Branch, Section, National, committee, and other meritorious service
• Highlights of professional activities
• Summary of awards, honors, and special recognitions received

All nomination packages must be submitted electronically according to the following specifications (paper nominations will not be accepted):

Page Limits

• The nomination requires single documents to be uploaded one at a time.
• The entire nomination package must not exceed 20 pages total. This includes letters of nomination or recommendation and publication lists.
• Letters of nomination and recommendation must be included in the electronic package. 

File Specifications

• The preferred file format is PDF.  
• Font size for text may not be smaller than 10 point.
• Nomination packages must be submitted online via the Honorary Member Nomination Submission Website. 

All nominations are reviewed by the Honorary Member judging panel and approved by the Governing Board.  Once approved by the Governing Board, the candidates will be included in the Summer elections and will be voted on by the ESA membership.  All candidates and their nominators will be notified of the results after the ESA Governing Board holds its summer meeting.

Any candidate nominated but not selected may be renominated no more than two times within the two-year period after their initial submission. Nomination packages will be retained for two years by the awards administrator. Nominators must send a letter of renomination to the awards administrator by the nomination deadline. Previously submitted documentation will be used for the evaluation process unless the nominator submits new or updated documents. The renomination email must contain this additional documentation. New or updated documents must follow the electronic submission requirements noted above.