Early Educator Award
The Early Educator Award honors an SAEM member, within eight (8) years of their first faculty appointment, who has made outstanding contributions to emergency medicine through the teaching of others. Applicants will be evaluated by their creativity/innovation and impact on emergency medicine educational practice. Excellence is assessed not only by the quantity of teaching activities but also by the quality of teaching and engagement in the broader education community.
The nomination period for 2025 SAEM Awards is October 1 to December 9, 2024.
Please note that the SAEM Awards Committee has developed a standardized letter template for you to use when creating your nomination packet.
Eligibility
- Training and certification in emergency medicine or an ABEM subspecialty
- Candidates must not have completed initial residency training before June 30, 2015.
- SAEM considers requests for extension of the training period requirement for various reasons, including medical concerns, disability, and active duty military service. Each of these requests is reviewed on a case by case basis, and MUST BE MADE PRIOR TO THE NOMINATION DEADLINE. SAEM will approve an automatic extension of one year for childbirth within the training period. Nominees must provide the child’s date of birth in the justification field on the SAEM Nomination Form. Contact awards@saem.org to request an extension.
- Fellowship training does not affect the requirement for defining an early educator
Previous recipients of the award are ineligible for further nomination for this award. Candidates may be nominated by any SAEM member and are evaluated by the Awards Committee on their accomplishments in the education of emergency physicians and others, including:
- Didactic/bedside (with impact assessments)
- Courses - development, advancement (with impact assessments)
- Development of new techniques of instruction or instructional material
- Scholarly works (research on education, text chapter and text books, reviews, and other science behind teaching)
- Presentations at regional, national, and international meetings
- Recognition or awards by students, residents, peers, or organizations
- Grants supporting education or education research
The Society will also recognize the honoree in its monthly newsletter, on its website, and in other media where awardees are covered.
Guidelines
The nomination must include:
- A current CV of the candidate
- A brief (1 - 2 paragraph) biographical summary
- A cover letter by the nominator addressing the above areas and the impact on emergency medicine and patients (please download the standardized letter template to create your cover letter)
- While not mandatory, a maximum of 2 additional support letters may be submitted (these may use the standardized letter template or be written free-form, limited to 2 pages)
- Person nominating award candidate (including mailing address, phone and fax numbers and email address)
- Contact information of department administrator or media persons that should be notified if the award is received.