Have you ever considered nominating another Society member for the award of Fellow, or perhaps have aspirations of achieving that status yourself, but are unsure of the requirements? The following guidelines should help

To be considered for the award of Fellow, a nominee:

(i)                  must have been a member of the Society for more than 10 years (need not be consecutive) AND

(ii)                have rendered outstanding service to the Society or to scholarship.

(Section 34(d) of the Society’s Constitution)

SAG staff may be considered for the award of the status of Fellow provided they meet the above criteria.

A fellowship is recognition of a sustained commitment and contribution to, ideally, several areas of the Society’s work over a period of not less than 10 years of outstanding service. Contributing to only one area of the Society’s operations, e.g. being a long-term library assistant, member of the conservation team, or contributing to a research group, would be unlikely to qualify for a fellowship in its own right.

Outstanding service does not require the member to have independently published ‘in their own right’, but it is anticipated that the proposed Fellow will have contributed to SAG scholarship, including through articles in Descent and other SAG publications. Conversely, a fellowship would not be awarded to a member who has published in the family history field but not made any direct, continuous and outstanding contribution to the Society’s work.

The SAG Membership Committee is currently responsible for receiving, reviewing and assessing the merits of fellowship nominations for the Society and for making recommendations to the Board for the award of Fellow to those nominees who meet the requirements pursuant to Section 34(d) of the Constitution.

Fellowships (if any) may be assessed at any time throughout the year but are usually awarded annually at the SAG Annual General Meeting.

The award of the status of Fellow is recognition of the outstanding contribution already made to the Society (and therefore to the family history community). There is no expectation that a Fellow take on an ambassador role. Election as a Fellow gives the individual increased standing in the genealogical community, which in turn reflects on the Society (for example, being introduced as a SAG Fellow when speaking at an external event such as Congress).

Should you wish to nominate another Member for the award of Fellow, please send nominations to membership@sag.org.au. There is no set proforma for the application – nominators are asked to provide a citation regarding the proposed Fellow that can be used publicly and that addresses the criteria with relevant supporting evidence included.