Awards Sponsor and Overview
These awards are sponsored by the Division of Distance Learning (DDL) of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT). DDL is responsible for evaluating nominations and selecting award recipients in each of the five categories: Crystal Award, Book Chapter Award, Empirical Journal Article Award, Practical Application Publication Award, and Graduate Student Empirical Journal Article Award. All nominated works must bear a publication date of 2023 or 2024.
The call for nominations for the 2024 award season opens on Thursday, March 7, 2024. Complete nominations and all supporting materials must be received by Tuesday, April 30th, 2024, 11:59 pm EST.
We are also recruiting Award Reviewers. If you are able to help, please complete this AECT DDL Awards Interest Form any time before March 31st, 2024. We hope you can help us evaluate these exciting projects!
Vice President for Awards
Hajeen Choi, PhD, MBA
hajeen.choi@gmail.com
Nominations Submission Links for Each Award Category
Recognition
Recipients of the DDL awards will be recognized in several ways. The award nominator and recipients will be contacted using the information provided by the nominator in the nomination form. Nominators, please be sure to enter accurate information in all fields for each author and contributor. After all nominators, authors, and contributors have been sent their congratulations or regret letters (estimated by July 31, 2024), the award recipients will be announced publicly via the DDL website, DDL listserv, DDL newsletter, and DDL social media (DDL Twitter, DDL Facebook, and DDL Instagram).
Award recipients will also be honored at the annual AECT international conference (October 19 - 23, 2024). Award recipients will be recognized during the DDL Membership Meeting or other celebration to be announced prior to the conference. Award recipients attending the ceremony will receive printed award certificates, while non-attendees will be provided with digital copies of the award certificate(s). DDL award recipients will also be printed in the conference program at the discretion of the AECT conference planning committee.
Award recipients may also be invited to discuss their nominated work in future virtual events, such as a podcast, panel discussion, webinar, etc.
Nominations
Timeline: The call for nominations for the 2024 award season opens on Thursday, March 7, 2024. Complete nominations and all supporting materials must be received by Tuesday, April 30th, 2024.
Membership: At least one of the authors or contributors of the nominated work should hold an active (non-expired) DDL membership in AECT. The Vice President for Awards holds the responsibility to check for membership status among the authors and contributors listed on the nomination.
Acknowledgment: The Award Coordinator will acknowledge receipt of the nomination via email to the nominator using the contact information provided in the nomination form. This email is sent to the nominator only, who may or may not be one of the authors or contributors of the nominated work.
Reviews: Nominations for each award category will be reviewed by at least three reviewers during the months of May and June. It is expected that at least one of the nominated authors (or contributors) will also serve as a reviewer for other submissions. The Award Coordinators, in collaboration with the Vice President of Awards, aim to assemble a panel of reviewers who demonstrate expertise in distance learning and represent the diverse individual and institutional characteristics of DDL’s membership.
Reservation of Rights
The DDL Board reserves all rights, including but not limited to the right to modify the awards and any criteria before the call for nominations has opened; accept an early or late nomination based on evidence of unique circumstances; disqualify a nomination that does not meet the published requirements; recognize only some of the award nominations or none at all; and rescind an award based on evidence of a breach of the AECT Code of Professional Ethics.
Click on the PDF for each award to view more information.
- Crystal Award [PDF]
- Book Chapter Award [PDF]
- Empirical Journal Article Award [PDF]
- Practical Application Publication Award [PDF]
- Graduate Student Empirical Journal Article Award [PDF]
Conference Proposal Award
This award will be given out annually to honor a DDL-sponsored conference proposal that is an example of best practices in distance education or leads to the improvement of distance education. All DDL-sponsored conference proposals will be considered. Contact the President-Elect for more information. Criteria will include proposal reviewer scores, ranking and/or reviewer comments. The final decision will be made by the President-Elect. No submissions or nominations are required for this award.
DDL Awards FAQs
1. What does one win?
- Certificate of recognition.
2. What is the purpose of the Awards?
- The Awards promote quality, professional distance learning activities and products and publicly acknowledge exemplary instances in five categories.
3. Do nominees submitting the application have to be AECT members?
- At least one nominee must be a member of AECT in good standing at the time of nomination.
4. How do I know what evidence to submit for the award?
- It varies by award and award criteria. Some are identified in the Award criteria, such as specifications for instructional product summaries required for Crystal Award. Ask the specific Award’s coordinator.
5. What language must my nomination be presented/written in?
- All submissions/nominations must be presented/written in English or translated to English.
6. Can a submission/nomination be submitted to more than one division?
7. Can previously winning entries be resubmitted to DDL Awards?
- Previous products (entries) that have been awarded a DDL award may not be resubmitted to DDL awards in the same category within the following 3 years unless the work has gone through major revisions and could be viewed as a different product or artifact.
8. For each nomination, what is the criteria for the publication date?
- All submissions should have been published from January 1st, 2023 until the award deadline. Publications must bear a publication date of 2023 or 2024.
9. Can a submission/nomination be submitted to more than one DDL Award?
- An individual can make up to two submissions for writing awards (i.e., Book Chapter, Empirical Journal Articles, and Practical Application Publication Awards) and one submission for design award (i.e., Crystal Award).
- An individual can’t be nominated for more than 2 writing awards as the first author. For example, if an individual is nominated as the first author for 2 journal articles, they cannot be nominated for a book chapter or practical application publication award as the first author.
- However, there are no restrictions on the number of submissions for the Graduate Student Empirical Journal Article Award, as long as they are nominated as co-authors. As the first author, you can make a maximum of two nominations.
9. Can a winner submit a product again in subsequent years?
- A product can only win a single award.
10. How do I know the award nomination results?
- Results will be communicated by the end of July via email and also posted on DDL social media sites.
https://aect.connectedcommunity.org/distancelearning/home/awardcritieria