Call for Nominations: The Ron MacDonald Outstanding Service Award 2026
CRKN is now accepting nominations for the Ron MacDonald Outstanding Service Award!
Nominate a colleague from within a member institution to celebrate their vision and dedication. We want to recognize and celebrate the impact of outstanding service on advancing access to knowledge in Canada.
We are inviting nominations for individuals who:
- Demonstrate vision, integrity, and inclusive values;
- Foster collaboration and building connections within the CRKN membership and/or between CRKN and like-minded organizations;
- Significantly contribute to collective efforts to create new pathways to knowledge;
- Demonstrate outstanding service in at least one of the following areas: licensing, open access, Canadian digital heritage content and infrastructure, or persistent identifiers.
CRKN particularly encourages nominations of outstanding candidates who are women, First Nations, Inuit, Métis, members of Black, and racialized communities, 2SLGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and members of other diverse and underrepresented groups.
Nominations are reviewed by CRKN’s Executive Committee and recommended to the Board of Directors. The recipient will be honoured in October at the 2026 Award Reception, held during the CRKN Member Summit and AGM.
This is a prestigious accolade for our community members and an opportunity to highlight the work that happens within CRKN member institutions. It recognizes impact of service, and, because number of years of experience is not part of the criteria, we welcome nominations across all career stages.
Submit your nomination by completing this form no later than May 14, 2026.
About the Ron MacDonald Distinguished Service Award
The Ron MacDonald Distinguished Service Award was created by CRKN in September 2008 to honour the late Ron MacDonald. Ron served on the Negotiations Resource Team from the inception of CNSLP in 2000 through to July 2007 and was a key contributor in the development of CRKN’s collaborative programs and services.
The award recognizes an individual within a member institution who has demonstrated vision, dedication and outstanding service in building bridges and collaboration to advance knowledge infrastructure in Canada.