GUIDELINES FOR IDENTIFYING AND SOLICITING NOVA AWARD NOMINATIONS

I. Identify Innovations to Be Solicited for NOVA Award Nominations

Identify innovation in construction publications, website, project, or presentation:

a. Publication: Search Table of Contents and/or leaf through publication searching for description, use, advertisement of any construction innovation. Generally, articles and advertisements in publications describe more innovations than “New Products” sections, which describe new and improved models.

b. Web page: Print page(s) that describe the innovation and mark as described above.

c. Project: Write short description of innovation, including any information on its source and how person(s) responsible for it or knowledgeable on it can be contacted. Take photos or collect literature if available. You may be able to immediately solicit a Nomination.

d. Presentation: Gather same information as shown above for Project. Contact speaker during/ after presentation to get information. Collect any brochures or copies of presentation. If person making presentation is one of the parties responsible for the innovation or represents one of them, solicit a Nomination. If person is not but is quite interested in the innovation, ask person if he will nominate the innovation, with your assistance.

Collect/ print/ copy/ tear out relevant pages/ brochures/ etc.
Mark by circling or other method the portion of page(s) that contain information on the innovation and add accompanying comment (such as “Solicit for Nova Award”)
Solicit Nomination or send information by fax or mail to CIF person(s) who will solicit the Nomination.

The objective is to identify innovations across the breadth of the construction industry that people can use. Do not try to judge whether an innovation is worthy of the NOVA Award. Leave that to the Jury. Any innovation from which people can benefit makes a good Nomination. The NOVA Award Selection Criteria provide the best guidelines for selecting innovations to nominate.

II. Solicit NOVA Award Nomination of Identified Innovations

Become familiar with an identified innovation by reading the available description.
Get basic contact information, which is at least a phone number or email address. If you are fortunate, it is included in the innovation description. Sometimes all that is available is the name of a company or a short name for the innovation. An internet search is one place to start for either phone number or email address if only partial information is available.
Identify and personally contact a person who will have the Nomination created and submitted. It is important to directly communicate with the person who has decision making and implementation authority, not just a secretary or a person who happens to get your phone call or email. Blaze a trail to a person who can get it done. This might be one of the innovators responsible for the innovation, the president of the company, the director of marketing, or just someone who enthusiastically says they will do it.

a. Contact by email: Download and use the NOVA Award Nomination solicitation email template computer file (or get it from me, Bob Carr, at ricarr@umich.edu), which contains succinct information, sources for further information, and instructions.

b. Contact by phone: Tell each person you contact that you represent the Construction Innovation Forum, that CIF learned about the innovation and believes it should be nominated for the NOVA Award, you are phoning to find and talk to whoever is the right person to get it nominated. You usually need to talk to several people before finding the right one. You may need to tell about what the NOVA Award and/or CIF is, why you are doing this, and something about the NOVA Award process. It typically takes about an hour per innovation to do a good solicitation, though the hour may be spread over several days of telephone tag.

Provide Nomination Form and information on CIF and the NOVA Award to contact person, along with instructions on the Nomination process, if needed. If contact is by phone, you probably need to follow up immediately with a letter to the contact person, enclosing a Nomination Form. Download and use the NOVA Award Nomination solicitation letter template computer file (or get it from me, Bob Carr, at ricarr@umich.edu) and use CIF stationery (preferred) or your own letterhead. If contact is by email, contact person can easily obtain Nomination Form and other information at www.cif.org. Anyone is welcome to contact me, Bob Carr, NOVA Award Chairman, by phone (734-665-8287), email (ricarr@umich.edu), or fax (734-665-1737). We have found that few actually do so.
Follow up with contact person if we do not receive their Nomination within a reasonable time to answer any questions and make sure the innovation gets nominated.
Keep contact log showing information (such as name, type of contact, outcome, date, phone number, email address, address, fax, title, other comments/ further information or action to be taken) that is pertinent to each contact and solicitation, to allow you or another person to track and follow up your solicitation from its current state. You do not need to obtain or record information that is not pertinent. Contact log can be in any format that can be easily used by you or anyone else, such as typed/ handwritten notes or computer spreadsheet.

NOVA Award solicitation is easy and even fun. You are delivering good news and recognition, not asking for a donation or assistance. You will make the day for many of those you contact: They receive a phone call or email telling them the CIF has identified their innovation to be important and wants the world to know about it by having it nominated for a special international award. It only takes about a person-day to complete and submit a Nomination, from which anyone in the industry can learn about their work from the CIF web site, www.cif.org. They can themselves go to www.cif.org to learn about CIF, NOVA Awards, NOVA Award process, get a Nomination Form, see earlier nominations, and see how people around the world will learn about their innovation once it has been nominated.

The Nomination solicitation email template and solicitation letter template and CIF website give you information to anticipate and answer the questions of those you contact. In particular, see www.cif.org/1nova.htm (NOVA Award description), www.cif.org/1process.htm (NOVA Award process), and www.cif.org/ffnomin.htm (NOVA Award Nomination instructions).

Contact me, Bob Carr, NOVA Award Chairman, if you have any questions or suggestions, on solicitation in general or on a particular innovation or problem.

Selection Criteria

The innovation will be judged on its effect upon the construction process and on facility service. It can be an innovation in the construction process itself or in materials, design, equipment, detailing, contract administration, labor relations, management, training, procurement, maintenance, use, etc. that improves the construction process and/or facility service. A project can be nominated for its innovative concepts or methods.

The innovation must be a proven success. It must have had a positive, important effect on construction or service, to improve quality or reduce cost. Innovation is the implementation of new methods and new technologies. It is not merely an idea that has merit and may be successful in the future. It must promote good, acceptable construction practices.

The innovation must be a significant advance, not just a natural evolution of existing methods, common sense, or good practice.

The innovation must be documentable and presentable. Innovators and their employers must disclose sufficient information about the innovation to allow documentation for the Jury and an informative presentation at the Construction Innovation Celebration.

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This page last updated 07/19/01 by RICarr