Benefits / Awards

 Members in good standing of the United States Army Space Professionals Association (ASPA) may nominate other members of ASPA to receive one of the three levels of the Order of Saint Dominic medallion or may nominate individuals who are not space professionals to receive the Noble Patron of Space award. If the nominee is not yet an ASPA member, then the recommender will provide for appropriate membership dues at the time of Nomination Packet submission. 

Nomination Packets shall be submitted by the recommender to the President of her/his local Chapter of the ASPA or, in the absence of an active local Chapter, to a geographically proximate Active Duty FA 40 colonel or GS15 space professional who is a member of ASPA and who should have some awareness of the nominee and her/his qualifications for potential recognition by either an Order of Saint Dominic medallion or the Noble Patron of Space Award. The local ASPA Chapter President (or the alternative Active Duty FA 40 colonel/GS 15 space professional) shall be responsible to ensure that the Nomination Packet has been prepared completely and with appropriate quality to be forwarded for a decision; the reviewer shall also consider the merits of the nomination. If the reviewing entity concurs with the nomination, they shall provide a memorandum of endorsement to accompany the nomination. If the recommender is a local Chapter President, or an Active Duty FA 40 colonel, or GS15 space professional (or higher), then a separate endorsement memorandum will not be required. 

Nomination Packets that do not merit forwarding for a decision shall be returned with comments to the recommender; they may be resubmitted to the local review entity for reconsideration at a future time once the nominating member believes she/he has appropriately addressed the comments provided to them. 

Well-prepared Nomination Packets shall be submitted to the National ASPA Secretary who shall be responsible to electronically distribute them to the ASPA's Standing Awards Approval Committee (SAAC). The members of this Committee shall have two weeks to review and vote to approve or disapprove an award recommendation, based on the merits of the Nomination Packet. If a Committee member does not respond in a timely manner, the Chair of the SAAC will accept the vote of the designated Alternate SAAC member. All efforts will be made by SAAC and National ASPA officers to close out Nomination Packets within three weeks of receipt. 

To be approved, a Nomination Packet shall require at least three favorable votes (simple majority). If a member of the SAAC is the award recommender, the designated Alternate SAAC member will vote in the recommender’s place. If a committee member has background information that leads to her/his unfavorable vote, the information should be provided to the SAAC Chair who will determine if it should be shared with other Committee members prior to closure and tally of the votes. 

The SAAC (including designation of its Chair) shall be established each year by the Board of Directors as a priority order of business following the elections held during the ASPA Annual Business Meeting. The SAAC shall be comprised of 5 voting members and one non-voting Alternate. At least two Committee members shall also be members of the ASPA Board of Directors. Additionally, at least three SAAC members shall be previous recipients of either the Order of Saint Dominic (any level) or the Noble Patron of Space Award. The ASPA President may not serve as a member of the SAAC; if a SAAC member is elected to the Presidency, the Board of Directors shall appoint a temporary replacement until such time as the SAAC is reestablished following the annual election cycle. 

An ASPA member who submitted a Nomination Packet that was not approved by the SAAC may submit a request to the President of the ASPA for a review of the rejection of the Nomination Packet by the Board of Directors. In such cases, if the President determines that the appeal has merit, the President shall present the review request to the entire Board of Directors. The Board shall review the matter and render a decision either affirming the SAAC’s rejection or reversing the SAAC decision within one month. Decisions by the Board shall be final. The President shall provide the review results to the nominating ASPA member electronically, or by formal, hardcopy correspondence. 

A full version of this guidance with details for each level of award are available as PDF upon request.