The Foreign Service Journal, April 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2022 59 AFSA NEWS AFSA Seeks Award Nominations for 2022 AFSA seeks to highlight achievement, performance, cour- age and sacrifice within the Foreign Service community. Our awards program began in 1968 and has continued to expand to recognize the work of our colleagues. We are proud to be able to spotlight the best of our community. Constructive Dissent Awards: AFSA’s Constructive Dis- sent Awards recognize Foreign Service members who work within the system to change policy and performance for the better. Such dissent may be made in any nonpublic channel including meetings, emails to superiors, memoranda, tele- grams or via the State Department’s formal Dissent Channel. Thus, AFSA’s Constructive Dissent Awards may be given to, but are not restricted to, employees who make use of the Dis- sent Channel. These awards are unique within the federal government and remain the lynchpin of AFSA’s awards program. There is no democracy without dissent, and the U.S. Foreign Service must remain a leader in the encouragement of respectful yet provocative constructive dissent. As Secretary of State Antony Blinken put it in his October modernization address at FSI, “Dissent is patriotic. It should be and will be welcomed.” We invite nominations for the four constructive dissent awards: • The W. Averell Harriman Award for entry-level Foreign Service officers. • The William R. Rivkin Award for mid-level Foreign Service officers. • The Christian A. Herter Award for Senior Foreign Service officers. • The F. Allen “Tex” Harris Award for Foreign Service specialists. Exemplary Performance Awards: AFSA also invites nominations for exemplary performance awards. These awards are meant to highlight the professionalism and spirit of service and volunteerism within the Foreign Service community. These awards honor Foreign Service employees, and in particular commu- nity liaison officers, office management specialists and family members for their important contributions at work, at home and in the community. • The Nelson B. Delavan Award recognizes the work of a Foreign Service office management specialist who has made a significant contribution to post or office effectiveness and morale, both within as well as beyond the framework of their job responsibilities. • The M. Juanita Guess Award recognizes a community liaison officer who has demonstrated outstanding leadership, dedication, initiative or imagination in assisting the families of Americans serving at an overseas post. • The Avis Bohlen Award honors a Foreign Service family member whose volunteer work with the American and foreign communities at post has advanced the interests of the United States. • The Mark Palmer Award for the Advancement of Democracy is bestowed on a member of the Foreign Service from any of the foreign affairs agencies, especially individu- als at the early- to mid-career level, serving domestically or overseas. The award recognizes the promotion of American policies to advance democracy, freedom and governance through bold, imaginative and effective efforts during one or more assignments. Note that we accept awards nominations all year, but the deadline for 2022 is Tuesday, May 17. Anyone may send in a nomination; self-nominations are also accepted for performance awards. AFSA is grateful to the many individu- als and organizations that make our awards programs possible through their generous support. Our thanks to the Delavan Foundation, the Ambassador William R. Rivkin family, the Avis Bohlen family, Dr. Sushma Palmer and Clements Worldwide. We deeply appreciate their dedication to the Foreign Service com- munity. All of AFSA’s awards programs, as well as the AFSA memorial plaques, are administered by Awards and Scholar- ships Manager Theo Horn. Contact him at horn@afsa.org , and visit www.afsa. org/awards for more information. AFSA’s Awards and Plaques Commit- tee has institutional oversight over these programs and has primary responsibility for the recommendation of award recipi- ents and plaque honorees. n AFSA award recipients on the cover of the December 2019 FSJ . Front row (from left): Lawrence Fields, Moises Mendoza, Jonette Vaughan, Nora Brito and Ambassador (ret.) Herman “Hank” Cohen. Back row (from left): Anna Boulos, Christopher Gooch, Timmy Davis, Laurent Charbonnet, Michelle Ross, F. Allen “Tex” Harris and Keith Koehler (father of Katherine Elizabeth Koehler, who was unable to attend the awards ceremony).