AFSA NEWS 72 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA Honors 2024 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 effectiveness 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 with 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. For full nomination criteria, please visit afsa.org/Sinclaire. 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. This year’s recipients demonstrated dedication to and extraordinary skills in their chosen language through engagement in a variety of in-language activities in and out of the classroom to improve fluency. We are pleased to announce the 2024 Sinclaire Award recipients: • Elizabeth Blumenthal: Slovak • Diana Braun: Azerbaijani • Emma Browning: Russian • Diane Carroll: Russian • Kevin Geiser: Khmer • James Hildebrand: Mandarin • Shobhit Kumar: Vietnamese • Shelbie Legg: Montenegrin • Caitlin Meyers: Urdu • Bibi Voyles: Turkish For more information on the Sinclaire Awards, contact awards@afsa.org. Nominations for the 2025 Sinclaire Awards are now being accepted; the deadline is Aug. 22, 2025. n AFSA Dues Increase for 2025 In accordance with Article IV of the AFSA Bylaws, the Governing Board can choose to increase dues by no more than the cumulative increase in the national Consumer Price Index, published by the Department of Labor, since the effective date of the previous dues increase. For 2025, AFSA has increased dues by 2.4 percent for all individual membership categories. In concrete terms, this amounts to an increase of 12 to 49 cents per pay period for activeduty members and 14 to 50 cents per month for retirees, depending on an individual’s membership category. Active-duty and retired members paying dues via payroll and annuity deduction will see a small increase in the amount automatically deducted from their paychecks and annuities. Those paying annually will be billed the new rate on their regularly scheduled renewal date. AFSA last increased its membership dues rate in January 2024. n NEWS BRIEF Category 2024 Annual 2024 Biweekly 2025 Annual 2025 Biweekly SFS $534.14 $20.54 $546.96 $21.04 FS 1, 2, 3 $416.52 $16.02 $426.52 $16.41 FS 4, 5, 6 $237.35 $9.13 $243.04 $9.34 FS 7, 8, 9 $129.20 $4.97 $132.30 $5.09 Active-Duty Dues Rates Retiree Dues Rates Category 2024 Annual 2024 Biweekly 2025 Annual 2025 Biweekly Annuity over $75,000 $248.43 $20.70 $254.40 $21.20 Annuity of $50,00075,000 $201.34 $16.78 $206.18 $17.18 Annuity of $25,00050,000 $147.75 $12.31 $151.30 $12.61 Annuity Under $25,000 $96.89 $8.08 $99.21 $8.27 Retiree Spouse $69.95 $5.83 $71.62 $5.97 Category 2024 Annual 2025 Annual Associate Member $143.77 $147.22 2025 Associate Dues Rates
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