AFSA NEWS 46 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA Honors 2023 Sinclaire Language Award Recipients Proficiency in foreign languages is a vital skill for members of the U.S. Foreign Service, not only for professional development but also for personal security and success at post. Each year since 1982, AFSA has recognized the outstanding accomplishments of FS members in the study and use of difficult languages through the Matilda W. Sinclaire Awards program. AFSA established this program upon a generous bequest from former Foreign Service Officer Matilda W. Sinclaire, who sought “to promote and reward superior achievement by career officers of the Foreign Service … while studying one of the Category III or IV languages under the auspices of the Foreign Service Institute.” Any career or career-conditional member of the Foreign Service from the Department of State, USAID, Foreign Commercial Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Agency for Global Media, or Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is eligible for the award. Recipients are selected by a committee comprising the dean (or designee) of the FSI School of Language Studies and the AFSA Awards and Plaques Committee. Each winner receives $1,500 and a certificate of recognition. of hosting local centennial celebrations, sharing ideas and materials to help mark the occasion. This will also be an opportunity to recognize the important contributions of locally engaged staff members. Foreign Service Day on May 3 will also be a time to celebrate, and we are glad to hear the State Department plans to return to a full Foreign Service Day schedule, including the traditional lunch in the Ben Franklin Room honoring our retirees. We hope you will stop by AFSA for our annual Foreign Service Day open house on May 2. And we will reach out to Foreign Service retiree associations across the country about how we can support their local centennial events. Here’s to a year of recognition and celebration, but also consideration of where we go from here and how we can best support U.S. diplomats and development professionals as they navigate an ever-changing world. n AFSA Centennial Continued from page 39 AFSA Governing Board Meeting, November 15, 2023 The board met in person at AFSA headquarters, with some members joining virtually via a hybrid system. The following action items were decided upon: 2024 Budget The board voted to approve the budget for Fiscal Year 2024. American Diplomat Funding The board agreed to provide sponsorship funds to the American Diplomat (podcast) for 2024. n This year’s recipients demonstrated dedication to and extraordinary skills in their chosen language through their engagement in a variety of in-language activities in and out of the classroom to improve fluency. We are pleased to announce the 2023 Sinclaire Award recipients: • Benjamin Cohen: Slovak • Laura Ettabbakh: Arabic • Benjamin Hulefeld: Polish • Christiaan James: Hebrew • Catherine Mathes: Greek • Tian Song: Bulgarian • Tenzin Thargay: Vietnamese • Seth Wyngowski: Estonian • Victor Yau: Khmer • Vanessa Zenji: Azerbaijani For more information on the Sinclaire Awards, contact AFSA Awards and Scholarships Manager Theo Horn at awards@afsa.org, or visit https://afsa.org/sinclaire. Nominations for the 2024 Sinclaire Awards are now being accepted; the deadline is Aug. 27, 2024. n
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