Fellows of the Company of Military Historians

Fellow Pin

Each year at the annual meeting of The Company of Military Historians, the Board of Governors may designate a member as a Fellow of The Company of Military Historians.

Article 5 of the Bylaws states:
Section 1. Any active or Honorary Mem­ber who, in the opinion of the Board of Governors, has clearly demonstrated substantial and positive accomplish­ments in one or more fields of activity for which The Company was orga­nized; or who has displayed outstand­ing enterprise in furthering the welfare of The Company or the success of its programs, may be designated as a "Fel­low of The Company" in recognition and reward.

Section 2. The Board of Governors shall establish criteria for selection of Fel­lows of The Company.
Under Article 5, Section 2 of the By­laws, past Boards of Governors have made two decisions relative to the selection of Fellows:
1. The nominee shall have been a member of The Company for at least two full years.
2. The number of Fellows will be re­stricted, not to exceed 12% of the total active membership of The Company.

Any member of The Company of Military Historians may nominate another member for Fellow. Nominations are sent to the Chairman of the Fellows Committee who, with the assistance and advice of the full Committee, makes recommendations to the Board of Governors, which selects those persons most worthy of the honor "Fellow."

Because of the size of The Company and the wide variety of the skills of its members, it is no longer possible for members of the Fellows Committee to be personally acquainted with the record and skills of those nominated for Fellowship each year. Therefore, it has become neces­sary to establish guidelines for nomina­tions based upon the selection criteria approved by the Board of Governors and used by the Fellows Committee. The criteria have been designed to give each member of The Company, no matter what his/her special field of interest or individual skills, an equal opportunity of becoming a Fellow of The Company of Military Historians.

The Board of Governors adopted "new criteria" at their fall meeting on 13 November 2004. The new criteria which will be used for the selection of Fellows is as follows.
Candidates will be scored in two categories: Contributions to The Company and contributions to military history in general. A nominee may receive up to a total of 100 points.

1. Direct contributions to The Company of Military Historians; for a total of 50 possible points.
   Points will be awarded based upon the activities within the categories.
   • A nominee is expected to have contributions in multiple categories.
   • The following are examples of contributions to CMH:
   a. An author of Journal articles
   b. An author of MUIA plate texts
   c. An artist for MUIA
   d. A member of the editorial staff of MC&H or MUIA
   e. Committee work
   f. Service as a CMH Governor or Officer
   g. Participation in Annual Meetings
   h. Participation in Chapter activities
   i. Contributions to the CMH web site and other electronic media
   j. Contributions to CMH, not here listed
   k. Contributions to the field of military history that call attention to The Company
   l. Extraordinary service to The Company-above and beyond the ordinary
   
   
2. Contributions to the field of military history not directly related to CMH; for a total of 50 possible points.
   • Points will be awarded based upon the weight of activities within the categories.
   • A nominee is expected to have contributions in multiple categories.
   • The following are examples of contributions to military history:
   a.An educator-one who dispenses knowledge through methods other than as an author
   b. A researcher-one who contributes original research to the field of military history
   c. A collector-one who acquires objects pertaining to military history, with the aims of study and research to increase knowledge and to use that knowledge to better understand the objects and their context.
   d. An author of books on military history
   e. An author of articles on military history published in sources other than The Company Journal
   f. An illustrator of books or articles on military history not published by CMH
   g. An artist of military illustrations
   h. For other contributions to the field of military history

   In order that the Committee may fairly judge and recommend each candidate for Fellow, it is essential that it have the necessary information to make the proper evaluation. It is up to the member or mem­bers making the nomination to provide this information.
   Members making nominations should be sure that the information they provide to the Fellows Committee is sufficient for the Committee to judge the nominee in all the categories that are applicable. Titles of articles and evidence which would assist the Committee in rating the nominee should be given.

Nominations are due by July 1st and should be submitted directly to:

Bill Emerson, Chair, Fellows Committee, 124 Kensington Drive, Madison, AL 35758 bemerson@knology.net

Distinguished Service Award

Effective 2 May 1974, the Board of Governors of The Company of Military Historians established a special Company honor, to be known as The Company of Military Historians Distinguished Service Award. This award has been established by the Governors of The Company to recognize long and outstanding service to The Company.  Eligibility criteria requires that the individual concerned has been a Fellow  of The Company for a minimum of ten years; is not an officer or Governor of The  Company; and has contributed services over and beyond that expected and  received from the average member and Fellow. Nominations for the award can be made only by the Governors and such nominations are referred to a Distinguished Service Award Committee for study and recommendation. No more than three awards can be given in any one year and the announcement of the award will be made at the Annual Banquet during the Annual Meeting.

DSA 1975 to 2003	DSA from 2003	DSA with Star

DSA Criteria as Approved 25 August 2009  

         
1. Annually, not  more than three members of The Company, selected as provided hereunder, will be  invested with this award at the annual Company meeting.(On 27 October 2009, the  Board approved waiving the number allowed per year for the awards to be  presented at the 2010 annual meeting).
2. Members so honored will be active members of The Company and Fellows of a minimum of five years standing.
3. They shall be selected for outstanding, efficient, devoted, and continuous service to The Company beyond the normal obligations of membership and office.
4. Such service to The Company itself shall be the only criterion for this award.
5. This award shall be granted sparingly, with every effort to ensure that the members so honored are fully worthy. There shall be no effort to establish or fill an annual quota. If no thoroughly qualified members exist, the award shall not be given
6. Active officers and officials of The Company shall be eligible after five years consecutive service in the same office
7. Members to be so honored may be nominated by any Governor in good standing.  Nominations will be approved by the Board of Governors.
a. In exceptional cases, the Board of Governors may authorize a posthumous award when a probable candidate dies unexpectedly.
b. This award may be revoked by a majority vote of the Board of Governors in  the event that a member so honored is found guilty of criminal or personal  misconduct bringing discredit to The Company.
8. The award itself shall consist of an openwork reproduction of the Company seal, approximately four (4) inches high, in silver. It shall be suspended around the neck by a ribbon of the Company's colors. Its presentation shall be accompanied by an appropriate certificate.

DSA with Star Criteria as approved April 2009

1. The Distinguished Service Award with Star is established to indicate a second award of the highest honor bestowed by the Company of Military Historians.
2. This award shall be granted sparingly, with every effort to ensure that the members so honored are fully worthy.
3. Recipients shall be active members of the Company. They shall be elected for outstanding, efficient, devoted, and continuous service to the Company beyond the normal obligations of membership or that which would be considered eligible for a Commendation Award.
4. A member shall be eligible for a DSA with Star no sooner than five (5) years after receiving the Distinguished Service Award.
5. Members to be so honored may be nominated by any Governor in good standing.  Nomination must be approved by a majority vote of the Board of Governors.
6. The award itself shall consist of a silver star added to the DSA medallion, accompanied by an appropriate certificate. Under normal circumstances it will be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Company.

Commendation Award

12 February 2006; Revised 18 April 2006

Purpose of Commendation Awards
• To recognize outstanding service to the Company of Military Historians.
• This service may be a single act that merits recognition, or meritorious service over a period of time in one or more areas.
• Other CMH awards are a Fellowship, which recognizes a combination of scholarship and service in multiple areas, and the Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes continuing exceptional service after being named a Fellow.

Eligibility
• Any member in good standing is eligible for Commendation, including those who hold a CMH office or position or who have previously been awarded a Fellowship or DSA.
• Service resulting in one Commendation Award cannot be counted toward a subsequent award, although a continuation of the same type of service can merit a second Commendation after a suitable period of time.
• Service resulting in a Commendation Award is eligible for consideration toward a Fellowship.

Criteria
• A Commendation may be awarded for any outstanding service that brings distinction to the Company or a chapter or improves services to members.

Method of Recognition

• Recipients will receive an unframed certificate and a three-star cluster pin to be worn under the membership or fellows pin. Multiple awardees will receive a numeral to be affixed over the central star denoting the repeat award.

Commendation Pin under Member Pin	Commendation Pin under Fellow Pin

• All recipients will be listed in the Journal and Dispatch and be announced at the annual meeting.
Nominations
• Any member in good standing may nominate another member for a Commendation Award.
• Letters of nomination should detail the nature of the nominee's service and explain why it is worthy of special recognition.

Deadlines
• Nominations will be considered and awarded on a continuous basis.
• Nominations must be received by March 1st to be announced at that year's annual meeting. Those received after March 1st will be announced at the following year's meeting.

Submit letters of nominations to the Awards Committee Chair by regular mail or as an attachment to an e-mail:

Bill Emerson, Chair, Awards Committee
124 Kensington Drive, Madison, AL 35758
bemerson@knology.net

The Robert Loren Miller Memorial Award

An annual award as a memorial to Charter Member and long-time MC&H Art Editor Robert L. Miller was approved by the Governors at their meeting in Lexington, VA in 1973. The award, in the form of a handsome 2-1/2 inch bronze medal will be presented each year to the Member whose exhibit at the annual meeting is judged "Best of Show." The Award is designed to encourage more exhibits, exhibits of even finer material than in the past and historical interpretation of the exhibited material for the enjoyment and edification of exhibitors and attending members alike.
The medal was conceived and executed by a group of Bob's friends who offered it for use as an annual award to the three related organizations in which Bob was active: The North South Skirmish Association, The Potomac Arms Collectors Association, and The Company. All three have accepted the medal for use as an annual award. The noted metallic sculptor, Edward R. Groves, who was a lifetime friend of Bob and Adrian Miller's designed and sculptured the plaster cast from which the die for the medal was cut. Metallic Arts of Danbury, Conn., America's foremost producer of art medals struck the medals in high relief.
Presenting the award to the best exhibit is especially appropriate as Bob Miller invariably exhibited interesting and significant material from his own collection at Company meetings. He was an exhibit prize winner himself, having received a medal for his exhibit of Fredericksburg Manufactory arms at a National Rifle Association show many years ago. It is understood that the North South Skirmish Association will make the award for the most authentically uniformed and accoutered man at its annual gathering and that the Potomac Arms Collectors will make the award for the best exhibit at its annual show.

Rules

1. Exhibits will be judged on the following points:
- Appropriateness to The Company's field of interest.
- Significance and interest of the exhibited material.
- Design and excellence of the exhibit in displaying the material and its interpretative labels in a logical, attractive, and tasteful manner.
- Intrpretation of the material exhibited in order to explain it, put it into historical context, or tell a historical stor
2. Exhibits will be judged by a each member attending the meeting. Ballots of these members will be collected prior to the annual banquet. In addition to the award of "Best of Show," any number of exhibits may be designated as receiving "Honorable Mention."
3. Institutions and professional curators, while eligible to exhibit, are not eligible to compete for the award.
4. The winner will be announced and award of the medal will be made at the annual banquet.

This award is given annually, beginning in 2012, for the best article in Military Historian & Collector about material culture(annually is defined as an article contained in issue numbers one through four in the given year).  The award is named in honor of past Company President, Lt.Col. Bill Emerson, who proposed its creation to the Board and who so generously, funded the minting of the medals which are part of this recognition.

The selection criteria are:

• Adds to the knowledge base of military material culture or collectible military artifacts.  This may include weapons, flags, uniforms, insignia, medals, vehicles, rations, accoutrements, hardware of any size used by military in the conduct of their duties, or other tangible material pieces; objects as small as buttons or as large as warships or components of hardware may be considered an artifact.
• Articles primarily describing battles, commanders, individual actions or incidents, time periods, and MUIA plates and texts are not eligible.  It is understood that many artifacts should be presented in historical context and to describe a battle, time period, war, person or unit, staff action, or other supporting information does not disqualify an article.
• Fact based.  The selection committee will base their judgment for this criterion on the facts presented in cited references in footnotes, or in the case of a field in which there is not an adequate scholarly base of work, upon archeological evidence or a through presentation of surveys of existing artifacts from which the author(s) may logically draw a conclusion.  This latter case is to encourage CMH members and the MC&H to present cutting edge scholarship and to recognize that many fields of military material culture have not yet been explored well.
• Rarity of an object or objects written about, while a consideration shall not be the overwhelming factor in the committee’s selection.
• The article will be well-written and logically presented.
• Text length shall be at least 800 words, excluding any caption illustrations, notes, and tables.
• The author(s) shall be a member of the Company of Military Historians and not serving on the review committee.
• In the opinion of the committee, if no article has been published in a given year on material artifacts in the MC&H, no award shall be recommended for that year.
• If in the opinion of the committee, only one article has been published on material artifacts, the committee may recommend an award for that year or they may consider that one article along with eligible articles the following year.  If the latter course is chosen, the committee shall recommend only one award for the two years.

The award is a cast medal bearing the award title and the Company Rifleman on the front. It will be presented in a velvet-lined hinged case; the back of the medal to be engraved with the winner’s name, article title, and the year of the issue in which the article appeared in Military Collector & Historian.   The medal will be presented along with a certificate signed by the President and Secretary of the Board and will be presented at the annual meeting,

Founders' Award for Superior Scholarship

Purpose:
To recognize outstanding scholarship or scholarly activities by a Company member.

Eligibility:
Any member in good standing is eligible for the Founders Award including those who hold a CMH office or position, or who have been previously honored as Fellow or DSA.

• Any member in good standing is eligible for the Founders Award including those who hold a CMH office or position, or who have been previously honored as Fellow or DSA
• Scholarship and scholarly activities resulting in one Founders Award cannot be counted toward a subsequent award, although a continuation of the same type of scholarship can merit a second Founders Award after a suitable period of time.
• Scholarship and scholarly activities resulting in a Founders Award is eligible for consideration toward Fellowship.
• Scholarship and scholarly activities used in qualifying for Fellowship will not be counted toward a subsequent Founders Award.

Criteria:
The fields encompassed by this award are broad and include:

• Authors of books and articles of military history and material culture.
• Preservationists of military battlefields and military items.
• Museum Curators specializing in military items.
• Artists who interpret military history and material culture
• Collectors of military material culture.
• Teachers/ Professors
• Editors/Compilers
• Living Historians

The award is meant to recognize achievement that brings new insights in the areas of military history and military material culture to the public. It is meant to reward work that is critically acclaimed and sets the standard for future work. It is not meant to recognize each article, each display, each plate, each class taught, each cannon saved, or each book compiled or edited, but rather a body of work that opens new avenues for looking at the field of military history and material culture. Collectors can’t just collect, but must use their collection to teach and form new interpretations. That is not to say that the author of a single book (for example) can’t be recognized for that work, what is important is the recognition the work receives by his/her peers, and whether it becomes a standard reference in the field.

Recognition:
Recipients will receive a certificate and a gold-plated 6 star cluster, emblematic of the six Company Founders to be worn over the Fellows or membership pin. All recipients will be listed in the Journal and be announced at the annual meeting.

Founders' Pin worn with Fellow Pin

Nominations are due by July 1st and should be submitted directly to:

Bill Emerson, Chair, Fellows Committee, 124 Kensington Drive, Madison, AL 35758 bemerson@knology.net

Award Nominations should be sent to:
Bill Emerson, Chair, Awards Committee
124 Kensington Drive, Madison, AL 35758
bemerson@knology.net.

See deadline dates for nominations under each award criteria.

 

Company Fellows
Distinguished Service Award
Commendation Award
Miller Award
Emerson Award
Founders' Award (no awards to date)