Nominations for the 2025 AMPAC Award for Political Participation will open December 2024!
The AMPAC Award for Political Participation recognizes an AMA or AMA Alliance member for outstanding accomplishment through volunteer activities in a political campaign or a significant health care related election issue such as a ballot initiative or referendum. If the member is a political candidate, the individual may not be nominated for work on their own campaign’s behalf. The award honors one national winner every other year. The Board of Directors of the American Medical Association Political Action Committee (AMPAC), which makes the final determination of the winner, requires nominations to meet these conditions:
- The activity for which an AMA or AMA Alliance member is being nominated must have occurred during the last election cycle. The activity may relate to a campaign for public office and/or a ballot initiative or referendum election related to a significant health care issue that is in the better interest of organized medicine. Initiatives/ballot referenda should be directly related to organized medicine’s agenda. Legislative advocacy/lobbying efforts are not considered for this award.
- Nominees must be a current member of AMPAC (with preference given to members with demonstrated history of AMPAC involvement). Only nominees that meet these criteria will be considered qualified and forwarded to, and considered by, the AMPAC Board of Directors.
- Applicants can either be self-nominated or nominated by the Board of Directors of the respective state PAC for the award.
The following criteria should be used in selecting a nominee:
Degree of participation. The nominee must have made a significant time commitment to the campaign.
Quality of participation. The nominee must have played a vital role in the campaign. Examples of involvement and activities are:
- Conducting major fund raising events.
- Being the principal volunteer coordinator, strategist, spokesperson, outreach coordinator for campaign or initiative, maintaining a website, etc.
- Organizing a medical community support group.
- Organizing local events to raise awareness of political candidate or health care related advocacy issue.
- Securing important endorsements.
Previous nominees. Previous nominees may be nominated again, but previous winners are not eligible for the award a second time.
Nominations must be accompanied by:
- A description of the volunteer campaign involvement;
- Certification by the candidate(s), or in the case of initiatives and referenda, senior campaign officials, that such involvement was vital to the campaign;
- If nominated by state PAC Board – letter of nomination by officer of the state PAC Board; and
- A personal statement from the nominee.
Please note that a victory in the campaign/initiative is not essential for demonstrating the significance of the nominee’s efforts.
Any documentation submitted must relate directly to the qualifying activities and should be succinct. Nominees are encouraged to submit only those materials that will inform the AMPAC Board’s deliberations.
Please submit nominations including all supporting documentation outlined above to: politicaleducation@ama-assn.org
The winning nominee will receive special recognition during the AMPAC Board Chair’s speech before the House of Delegates or during the AMPAC luncheon at the AMA Annual Meeting in Chicago. The winning nominee will also receive free admittance (including airfare and hotel expenses) to a future AMPAC political education program (campaign school or candidate workshop) in Washington, DC.