Herb S. Brier, W9AD, long-time CQ Novice Editor, represented the spirit of effective, caring Amateur Radio instruction.  The ARRL sponsors this award in conjunction with the Lake County Indiana Amateur Radio Club, in his memory to recognize the very best in Amateur Radio instruction and recruitment.

The award is bestowed by the ARRL Board of Directors. The Program & Services Committee of the Board will oversee the nomination and screening process.

The name of the award shall be the “ARRL Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year Award.”

Requirements/Eligibility

• ARRL member

• ARRL registered volunteer instructor or ARRL registered professional classroom teacher

• Holds an Amateur Radio license

• Acts/acted as lead licensing instructor for 4 years or more, has conducted a minimum of 8 classes (of any level: Technician, General and/or Extra), or equivalent level of commitment and duration of service.

Note: Candidates for this award may be nominated for past service even though they may not be currently active. However, eligibility requirements and all selection criteria apply to all nominees.

Nominations must be received by March 15 to be considered for an award in the current year.

Selection Criteria

• Uses creative instructional approaches to cover the license course content, engages hands-on radio activities and teaches for understanding

• Uses student evaluation and/or other process to get feedback for improvement, and receives consistently favorable student evaluations

• Demonstrated ability: success rate measured in terms of percentage of students beginning a course who complete it and/or who pass the license exam

• Provides students with information about the variety of activities and operating modes available to radio amateurs

• Models the highest values of the amateur radio community (dedication to learning, courtesy, importance of adhering to FCC rules, voluntary service to community, etc.)

• Demonstrates follow through and personal commitment to amateur radio instruction. Examples include, but not limited to, helping new amateurs get on the air, coordinating antenna parties, organizing a school radio club, setting up Elmers to work with new amateurs assisting in their transition to the local amateur radio community

• Personal enthusiasm and ability to recruit students to study for license, and/or efforts to publicize license preparation classes

Documentation must be provided to support the selection criteria. Candidates will be evaluated according to a scoring system for each criterion. Each criterion will be assigned a weight. The candidate’s score will be multiplied by the weight for that criterion to reach a score. If a particular criterion is not documented, the candidate will receive no score for that criterion. The candidate’s final score will be a total of all weighted scores for all criteria.

Materials required for nomination

• Information to support eligibility requirements, including listing of classes held during the past 4 years, dates of at least 8 classes, or description of similar level of commitment and duration of service
• Recommendation from ARRL elected official: Director, Vice Director or Section Manager and/or ARRL club sponsorship

Additional materials that would support a nomination

• Examples of instructor developed instructional materials, such as handout sheets, PowerPoint presentations or concept demonstrations

• Candidate recommendations from former students or local amateur radio observers, school officials or colleagues, non-ham community groups. Endorsements can provide anecdotal information and should address the criteria for receiving the award

• Copy of course syllabus

• List and description of course activities used to support instruction

• Sample lesson plan(s)

• Representative video of selected class segments (no more than 15 minutes total) demonstrating instructional technique and/or activities

• Copy of the student’s course evaluation and summary of results

• Documentation of courses held with number of students, number of licensees, pass rate

• Summary of students’ amateur radio related projects, such as science fair projects or enrichment projects

• Copy of recruiting materials, publicity for classes

• Syllabus/ description of post license workshops for new licensees or ham club members

• Anecdotal information of dedication and extraordinary personal commitment

• Short essay by nominee describing personal teaching philosophy

Procedures

1.      Nominations shall be solicited through the ARRL membership, field organization, affiliate clubs, registered teachers and instructors and may be accepted from any source.

2.      Nominations must be received by March 15 to be considered for an award in the current year.

3.      Nominations will be acknowledged by ARRL to the nominator and the nominee by email when received, but no later than March 30. Acknowledgement will contain the terms of reference for the award and will request documentation for the selection criteria of the award to be submitted by the deadline of April 30.

4.      ARRL will inform the ARRL Director, Vice Director and Section Manager of nominations in their division/section and solicit their recommendation.

5.      ARRL will assemble the nomination materials for each candidate, and after determining if the requirements are met will forward the materials for eligible candidates to the members of the Education Awards Committee by May 15.

6.      The Education Awards Committee will include at least 5 individuals including ARRL staffers and appointees by the Education and Learning Manager or by the Programs & Services Committee.

7.      The Awards Committee will evaluate the eligible candidates according to all selection criteria using a scoring system to assess each criterion. The Committee will determine the process to be used to conduct the scoring and whether an award can be recommended based on the documentation received.

8.      The Awards Committee will make a recommendation to the Programs and Services Committee by June 15.

9.      The PSC will make the final recommendation to the Board of Directors at its second annual meeting.

10.  ARRL will prepare the award and award news coverage. If possible, an ARRL elected official will present the award. The award sponsor, Lake County Indiana Amateur Radio Club will fund the award. 

The Award

• An engraved plaque and a cover letter, presented by ARRL elected official (when possible)

• Coverage in QST and/or on the ARRL website

• ARRL publications of a value up to $100

• Local media coverage through PIO