Small Credit Union Achiever's Award

Realizing the great contributions of small credit union leaders, the Small Credit Union Achiever’s Award is designed to recognize accomplishments, time, and efforts in support and promotion of the credit union movement over the past year by professionals dedicated to serving credit unions under $100 million in assets. 

The nomination deadline has passed.

Eligibility

  • Nominees must be paid credit union employee from a Cornerstone member credit union with assets under $100M (per June 30 NCUA call reports of the preceding year.) 
  • Any Cornerstone member credit union or chapter may nominate individuals for this award. 
  • Nomination may be made without regard to credit union or chapter boundaries.

Who should be nominated for the Small Credit Union Achiever’s award?

The Awards and Recognition Committee will look for employees from credit unions under $100M who have demonstrated leadership and management abilities at their credit union. Their selfless loyalty, time and talent have improved people’s lives, enriched their community and contributed to the credit union movement.

Awards Criteria

For your convenience, review the awards criteria before proceeding through the nomination process.

The recipient will be recognized at  IMPACT: Cornerstone Annual Meeting.


Nomination & Scoring Procedures

  • The Cornerstone Awards and Recognition committee will review completed and submitted nominations forms received by the award deadline.
  • Hall of Fame, Professional of the Year, Small CU Achiever’s and Volunteer of the Year nominees must receive at least 75% of the total points possible to be considered an award winner.
  •  For consistency and transparency, the awards committee will use a scoring system to assign point values to submissions.
  • Nominations must be submitted through the online platform. 
  • NEW for the 2026 Awards Program: In lieu of a written submission, nominators have an option to upload a video submission. Take care to cover all the necessary information indicated in the awards criteria documents. 
  • You may nominate yourself or someone else.  


2026 Awards Timeline

  • October 2025: Awards open for nominations 
  • Feb. 6, 2026: Awards nomination deadline 
  • Feb. 10-Feb. 21, 2026: Awards committee reviews submissions 
  • Late February 2026: Award winners notified 
  • May 12-14, 2026: Cornerstone Award winners honored at IMPACT: Cornerstone Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City, OK.

Award FAQ


Eligibility for all awards (Hall of Fame, Professional of the Year, Small CU Achiever and Volunteer of the Year):

  • You may nominate yourself or someone else for any award.
  • Any Cornerstone member credit union or chapter may nominate individuals for any award.
  • Nomination may be made without regard to credit union or chapter boundaries.
  • The Hall of Fame nominee must be retired from a Cornerstone member credit union.
  • The Professional of the Year nominee must be a paid credit union employee from a Cornerstone member credit union.
  • The Small Credit Union Achiever’s nominee must be paid credit union employee from a Cornerstone member credit union with assets under $100M (per June 30 NCUA call reports of the preceding year.)
  • The Volunteer of the Year nominee must be from a Cornerstone member credit union and an unpaid credit union volunteer.

 

 


Yes. A person can be NOMINATED (not win) for the same or different awards in consecutive years.  


No. A credit union individual cannot be nominated for different awards in the same year. For example, a a credit union professional from a credit union $100M and under cannot be nominated for both the Professional of the Year and the Small CU Achiever’s Award. Or, a credit union professional cannot be nominated for a Young Professional of the Year, Small CU Achiever's and Professional of the Year. 
 


If there is a submission from an award committee member’s credit union, that committee member must abstain from judging in that category. In addition, a committee member who is nominated for an award cannot judge in that category.
 


The Cornerstone Awards and Recognition committee reviews completed and submitted nominations forms received by the award deadline. Hall of Fame, Professional of the Year, Small CU Achiever’s and Volunteer of the Year nominees must receive at least 75% of the total points possible to be considered an award winner. For consistency and transparency, the awards committee will use a rubrik scoring system to assign point values to submissions.

If an award category receives a single nomination and that nominee does not reach the 75% total point value, no award will be given.

If an award category receives no nominees, no award will be given that year.  

 


No. An individual cannot win the same award twice. 
 


No. An award winner must wait five years to be nominated for another award category.  
 


In the event of a tie, a special meeting will be called and the Awards & Recognition committee will discuss further and decide on one award winner per category. 
 

Questions?

If you have questions about this award, please contact Susan Dyer, VP, Communications.