2. The John L. Cotter Award for Excellence in National Park Service Archeology

PREFACE: In honor of the long and distinguished career of Dr. John L. Cotter and his pioneering contributions to professional archeology within the National Park System, this annual award was established to inspire student and professional archeologists to continue Dr. Cotter's model of excellence.

PURPOSE: To recognize a specific archeological project within a unit of the National Park System, conducted by National Park Service staff, cooperator, permittee, or consultant, and guided by senior National Park Service staff archeologist(s), each fiscal year, which meets or exceeds the criteria below.

AWARD: The selected project lead person(s) will receive a commemorative non-monetary award and a certificate bearing name(s) of principal investigator( s), project dates, and field unit name. Presentation of the award shall be at a suitable gathering of representative NPS archeological staff, and a brief project description shall be announced through official NPS public affairs channels.

CRITERIA: Candidate project leaders and their work within park submerged or terrestrial sites shall be evaluated for eligibility with respect to the following elements:

(1) Exemplary interdisciplinary research design that includes multiple testable inquiries (e.g., cultural patterns, affiliations, cultural change, or other analytical concepts of anthropology) as objectives, and uses data from other supporting disciplines;

(2) Involvement of several students in training for academic work who perform work elements that contribute significantly to project goals;

(3) Thorough scientific analysis, curatorial treatment meeting federal standards, interpretation of material culture that is integrated with research design inquiries, and utilization of appropriate specialists' assistance in these activities;

(4) Stated program(s) to enhance public education regarding research results and benefits of new knowledge generated for improved local awareness as well as increase scientific values;

(5) Publication plans with identified funding for printing of project results as professional reports, including electronic formats.

PROJECT TYPES: Eligible projects may be a phase of a larger multi-year program or a single year project which addresses prehistoric or historic archeological resources through: excavation, or survey and inventory, or testing, or focused symposia, or collection analysis and description, or combinations of these activities. If not NPS funded, the project must contribute to a field unit's strategic management of its archeological resources.

NOMINATION: An ongoing project or one begun in the preceding year and its supervisory staff may be nominated by an NPS career employee or non-NPS professional archeologist familiar with the work, other than the Review Group members or persons otherwise directly involved, during the fourth quarter of a fiscal year. Nominations addressing the criteria above should be less than 10 pages with fewer than 5 photographs or other illustrations. The nominator must forward 6 copies labeled "Cotter Award Nomination" by October 1 with a dated transmittal letter to the Office of the Department of the Interior Consulting Archeologist, National Park Service, P.O. Box 37127, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20013-7127.

REVIEW OF NOMINATIONS: At least six NPS supervisory archeologists will be requested by the Consulting Archeologist to review nominations and place them in rank order with a recommendation for award. This Review Group may seek input from previous awardees or non-NPS archeological experts. A consensus decision is needed. The Consulting Archeologist's Office will be informed of the award recommendation within two months of receipt of nominations. The Review Group will schedule a suitable presentation event. Non selected nominations will be returned to the source individual after the award event. The Cotter Award was first presented on April 4, 2000, at the Annual Meeting of National Park Service Archeologists held in Philadelphia in conjunction with the Society for American Archaeology conference. The recipient, Joseph Labadie, was cited for his multi-year fieldwork at Amistad National Recreation Area, Texas, which involved many students and avocational volunteers.