National Association of Secretaries of State Announces Award Recipients for 2017

Awards for Innovative State Programming, Acts of Political Courage and Service to the Association Presented at NASS Summer Conference in Indianapolis

The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) recognized its national award recipients for 2017 at the NASS Summer Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, which recently took place from July 7 through July 10. The list of honors includes the following:

2017 IDEAS AWARD

Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin was presented with the 2017 IDEAS Award on July 9.  The Arkansas Secretary of State’s office was selected to receive the annual award for innovation and excellence in state programming in recognition of its Gov2Go platform, which allows citizens to receive personalized notifications designed to help streamline their interactions with government. 

Secretary of State offices in Connecticut, Delaware and Iowa were also recognized for their national finalist submissions, which were reviewed and voted on by members.

DOWNLOAD PHOTO - Credit: NASS

2017 MEDALLION AWARDS

On July 10, the association presented six NASS Medallion Awards for outstanding contributions and service to the association to the following recipients:

• North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, for outstanding leadership in business services and electronic governance issues, including service as president.
• North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger, for outstandingleadership and service, including 23 years as head of the NASS Awards Committee.
• South Carolina Secretary of State Mark Hammond, for outstanding service and longtime leadership support, including multiple committee leadership roles.
• NASS Notary Public Administrators (NPA) Section President Mike Smith, for outstanding leadership and service to the association and its Notary Section.
• NASS Corporate Affiliate NIC, presented to Ron Thornburgh for longtime corporate support of NASS (20+ years) and exceptional service to Secretary of State offices.
• NASS Communications Director Kay Stimson, for dedicated service to NASS.

PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

2017 COLBORN AWARD

The NASS Administrative Codes and Registers (ACR) Section honored the state-of-the-art Wyoming Administrative Rules website with the Robert J. Colborn Innovation Award on July 9. 

Secretary of State Ed Murray and state office Technology Director Andrea Byrne accepted the award, which was presented by ACR President Emily Caudill.

"Wyoming is awesome, and the uniqueness of their program really stood out to our reviewers this year," said Caudill.

DOWNLOAD PHOTO - Credit: NASS

2017 MARGARET CHASE SMITH AMERICAN DEMOCRACY AWARD

On July 10, the association announced that the 2017 Margaret Chase Smith American Democracy Award for political courage will be awarded to the Little Rock Nine, nine courageous students who challenged racial segregation by enrolling at the all-white Central High School in 1957. Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin nominated the group. The award will be presented at the NASS 2018 Winter Conference in Washington, DC.

"NASS Awards recognize the notable achievements of our citizens, our state members and our private sector partners, as we strive to acknowledge some of the significant contributions they are making to our states," said NASS President Connie Lawson, who serves as Indiana Secretary of State. "I congratulate all of this year's award recipients and thank our members who took time to vote - it was not easy to decide with the record number of nominations that we received."

For more on NASS, visit www.nass.org. Follow us on Twitter: @NASSorg. Get Facebook updates. Nonpartisan voting info at www.CanIVote.org

ABOUT NASS: Founded in 1904, NASS is the oldest, nonpartisan professional organization of public officials in the U.S. Membership is open to the 50 states and all U.S. territories. NASS serves as a medium for the exchange of information between states and fosters cooperation in the development of public policy. NASS also offers two membership sections for state government professionals: Administrative Codes & Registers (ACR) and Notary Public Administrators (NPA).