1 Standards
The Award of Merit and the Honorary Fellowship are the highest honours that IAgrE can bestow, and are considered to be of equal status. Either may be awarded, or very rarely an individual may receive both awards at intervals in a distinguished career. The most rigorous criteria are applied to nominations which may be put forward, and there is no stipulation of the number or type of award that may be conferred in a given period of time.

2 Articles of Association
The award of an Honorary Fellowship is covered by Section 17 of IAgrE’s Articles of Association. There is no similar provision for the Award of Merit, but by custom Article 17 has been taken as the guideline for both Honorary Fellow and Award of Merit.

Article 17 states: "An Honorary Fellow shall be:

(a) A person who is distinguished by work in agricultural science or engineering, or

(b) A distinguished person whom IAgrE desires to honour for services rendered to IAgrE, or whose association therewith is of benefit to IAgrE."

3 Interpretation

• Although the award of the Honorary Fellowship may be based on either 17(a) or 17(b) above, by custom 17(b) has been the main basis for the Award.
• While the Award of Merit would rarely be conferred on a person who is not a member of the Institution, the principal basis for the award is 17(a) above. The option is therefore available to honour those who have distinguished themselves in agricultural engineering or related fields, but who are not members of IAgrE.

4 Timing of Award
Nominations for Honorary Fellowship and Award of Merit will be considered by the Awards Panel with recommendations presented to Council for ratification, with the presentation normally being made at the AGM/Annual Conference. As indicated in paragraph 1 above, there is no stipulation of when and how many awards should be made: it is sufficient that the most rigorous standards should be applied, and the recipients should be of the highest calibre.

5 Criteria

• Article 17(a) “A person who is distinguished by work in agricultural science or engineering”.
• The work itself must be of major importance, having made an impact on agricultural engineering developments, thinking or technology.
• The candidate’s part in the work must be clearly identifiable.
• Article 17(b) “A distinguished person whom the Institution desires to honour for services rendered to IAgrE”.
• A member of IAgrE who has rendered outstanding service to IAgrE over a substantial period of years.
• An eminent person who, not necessarily being an agricultural engineer or a member of IAgrE, has rendered outstanding services to agricultural engineering and IAgrE over a period.

6 Eligibility
Any person, regardless of occupation, race or nationality, may be considered for an award provided nothing is know about him or her which would, by association, bring IAgrE into disrepute.

7 Submission of Proposals

• Proposals will be considered by a Presidential (Awards) Panel which will submit its recommendations to Council for approval.
• Each proposal should consist of a draft citation stating briefly the achievements of the nominee, together with an appendix giving more detailed information in support of the proposal.
• Each proposal should bear the signatures of a proposer, a seconder and two other signatories, all of whom must be corporate members of IAgrE.
• Proposals should be typed on A4 and submitted to the IAgrE’s Secretary. The Presidential (Awards) Panel may wish to seek further information from sponsors and will consider its final recommendation early in the New Year, to be placed before a meeting of Council.
• The Award will normally be presented at the AGM/Annual Conference held in May