North Central Branch John Henry Comstock Award

The John Henry Comstock Award is given to one graduate student from each of the Entomological Society of America's six Branches to promote interest in the science of entomology at the graduate level and to stimulate interest in attending the ESA Annual Meeting. The award includes an all-expense-paid trip to the national meeting, a $500 cash prize, and a certificate that is presented during the ESA Annual Meeting. Awardees are not required to present a paper at the Annual Meeting.

View the Instructional Video on How to Submit Your Nomination

Eligibility
Nomination Requirements
Evaluation Criteria
Submission Requirements
Previous Winners
Deadline
Submit a Nomination

Eligibility

The student nominee must be currently enrolled as a graduate student in entomology or have graduated no more than one year prior to presentation of the award at the NCB annual meeting. Students must be pursuing a course leading to a graduate degree with a major in entomology. Application for Society membership (student or active) must have been made prior to January 1 of the year the Award was made. An active member returning for graduate study is not eligible.

Nomination Requirements

Nomination packages should include the following: 

1. Curriculum vitae. There is no page limit, but the document should include: 
   a)    Publications. Limited to published or in-press submissions and must provide complete citation. 
   b)    Presentations. Indicate the scope of the presentation (local, regional, national, or international) and whether the presentation was invited or submitted.
   c)    Fellowships and awards. When appropriate, indicate the scope of the award (departmental, university, local, regional, national, international, etc.) 
   d)    Service. Highlight any university or other professional service, briefly indicating the nominee’s role in that service.
   e)    Outreach, extension, and scientific communication. For these activities, please indicate the nominee’s role. Feel free to highlight any efforts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in this section.
   f)    Involvement in professional societies. Describe engagement in ESA or other professional societies, including volunteering, serving on committees, etc.
   g)    Collaboration. Highlight any mentoring activities, participation in collaborative research teams, interdisciplinary work, etc.  
2. A cover letter detailing the nominee's goals and interests in entomology, and how the nominee’s current and past experiences relate to the success of these goals (strictly limited 2 pages double spaced)
3. Letter of support for candidacy from one (1) professional reference, such as the nominee’s PhD or MS advisor. Letters can be provided to the nominator directly, or in the case of self-nominations, the nominee can request reference letters via the award submission site.  Once the support letter is submitted online by the letter writer, the nominee will not be able to see the content of the letter. Please limit letters of support to two pages and be sure to address the evaluation criteria (see below) in the letter.

Evaluation Criteria

Nominees will be judged using the following criteria for a total of 100 points:

• Research (40 points) 
  • Papers (number and quality of journals)  (20)
  • Oral presentations (number, national/international, invited) (10)
  • Poster presentations (number, national/international, invited) (5)
  • Fellowships and awards (5)
• Service (30 points)
  • University service (10)
  • Outreach, extension, and scientific communication (15)
  • Involvement in professional societies (ESA, others) (5)
• Other Evidence (20 points)
  • Letters of recommendation (5)
  • Statement of nominee's interest and goals in entomology (10)
  • Collaboration (5)  
• Overall Evaluation (10 points)
  • Overall achievements (how balanced are all activities) (10)

Submission Requirements

All nomination packages must be submitted electronically according to the following specifications (paper nominations will not be accepted).  Nomination packages will be submitted through the award submission site.

• Only the following file formats will be accepted: PDF (Adobe Portable Document Format), RTF (Rich Text Format), TIF graphic files, or JPG graphic files. Files created on either PC or MAC platforms will be accepted. Please make sure scanned images can be clearly read on a computer screen.
• Font size for text may not be smaller than 11 point.
• The maximum upload size is 2 MB per file.
• Nominators are encouraged, though not required, to submit the package as one continuous document rather than as individual files.

Deadline

Nomination packages must be submitted online via the award submission site by December 13th annually at 11:59 EST.  This deadline refers to receipt by the awards administrator of a complete package in a readable format.