The CARA Awards and Recognition Program recognizes the best and brightest in Canadian research administration and management, from outstanding teams to individual luminaries. Nominations are made by the membership at large and submitted to the Awards and Recognition Committee. Bestowing the awards shall be based on evidence submitted by the nominator(s) and the criteria outlined for each award. The awards may not be made every year. Show your employees, colleagues, and friends how much you value their work, creativity, and success; submit your nomination - CARA would love to celebrate your successes on the national scale!
The deadline for nominations for the 2025 CARA Awards is December 1, 2024. The CARA Awards are presented at the national meeting each year.
Walter Hitschfeld Award
This award is named for Walter Hitschfeld, a founding member of CARA, in recognition of his dedicated and outstanding contribution to the organization. This award is presented to an individual who has demonstrated an exceptional impact on the enhancement of the research management setting in Canada. Award holders are granted Honorary Lifetime Membership in CARA.
Community Builder Award
This award is presented to a passionate leader in the CARA community whose efforts have strengthened the community through membership engagement efforts, welcoming and facilitating the integration of newcomers or other forms of leadership specifically advantageous to helping members connect to the broader CARA community.
Dan Chase Distinguished Service Award
Named in memory of Dan Chase, who played an active role in the Association over a number of years, the Dan Chase Distinguished Service Award has been established to recognize CARA members whose services have been of significant benefit to the entire organization.
Dan Chase Distinguished Service Award - Priority Initiatives
This award has been established to recognize CARA members whose services have been of significant benefit in advancing one or more of CARA’s priority initiatives in a given year. For 2020 - 2023, the priority initiatives from the strategic plan are:
- Professional excellence
- Professional development
- Communities of practice
- Sustainable CARA
This award is presented to an individual who has demonstrated an exceptional leadership commitment.
Director's Award for Inter-Institutional Collaboration
The recipient(s) for this award will be chosen by a panel of Directors from various Canadian institutions. This award is presented to an individual or team who has demonstrated leadership and creativity in working collaboratively and effectively to achieve a shared goal in research management. Examples of collaboration could include the harmonization of standards, templates or policies, creation of a resource or tool that advanced the profession of research management through improved communication, greater efficiency, or by addressing a barrier to success at an individual, institutional or regional level.
Innovation Award
This award is presented to an individual or a group who has demonstrated leadership and creativity in an innovative project in our field. The achievement can be as tangible as a research paper or other publication or may be leading discussions in a previously under-recognized area or issue in research management with the objective of impacting practice.
Public Engagement and Advocacy Award
Established in 2018, this award recognizes an individual, institution, team or project that established and maintained public engagement with research through an innovative approach.
Research Management Excellence Award
This award will be presented to an exceptional research manager who has made outstanding contributions to the profession through innovation, creativity, hard work, and dedication.
Research Partnership Award
Established in 2018, this award recognizes a project, program, or long-term collaboration that has had a significant economic impact or other positive local, national, or global implications.
Research Project Management Award
Established in 2018, this award recognizes an exceptional research project manager who has made outstanding contributions to the profession of research administration and management through the adoption and implementation of project management excellence within a project, team, department or institution and/or a significant contribution to fostering project management excellence in the field of research administration.
Spirit of Kindness Award
Established in 2019, this award acknowledges CARA members for outstanding kindness and compassion towards colleagues in their workplaces, the CARA community, and/or the international research administration community.
Unsung Hero Award
This award was developed to recognize the hard work and dedicated efforts of CARA non-Executive members who are as yet unrecognized by the membership. These individuals have ‘stepped up to the plate’ and chosen to become involved by volunteering for CARA.
The Legacy Award
This award is presented at the discretion of the CARA Board to a member of CARA community whose efforts have created a significant legacy to the association.