C.F.W. Coker Award for Description

About this program

The Society of American Archivists Foundation funds the annual C.F.W. Coker Award for Description to recognize innovative finding aids, finding aid systems, descriptive tools, or projects that advance archival description and enable archivists to produce effective finding aids; the prize is a certificate and $250. Eligible nominees may be individuals, institutions, or groups, and both published and unpublished works produced during the preceding calendar year may be submitted; examples include multi‑institutional guides, repository or collection finding aids, indexing or database systems, thesauri/authority files, manuals establishing descriptive standards, atlases, administrative histories, and cooperative survey or national information system projects. Works must involve projects located primarily in North America, set national standards or have substantial impact on descriptive practice, and the award is not intended for books or articles on descriptive theory. Nominations are submitted via the SAA website and are due February 28 each year, with selections made by the Coker Award Subcommittee of the SAA Awards Committee.