Sample Ethics Statement for Awards Programs
This sample
ethics statement is in the public domain. The
statement was originally written by Rhonda Serong, who
has operated a top-rated awards program for many years. It was later
augmented and displayed by the membership of Website
Evaluators Code of Ethics (CEM/CEMA), an ethics
organization for awards programs which ceased operations
in 2005. It is one of the most widely-used ethics
statements for awards programs in the world.
RAU Awards
Institute� is proud to continue making this statement
available to the world of awards.
This sample
statement should be considered as a guideline. The
portions of the statement [in brackets] should be
replaced by information suitable for your own program.
Other portions of the statement may need to be altered to
fit your program's needs, as well. If your country
has laws which apply to ethics statement such as this,
those requirements should be added to this statement.
DECLARATION OF ETHICS
[name of your awards
program]
I, [your
name], Owner [and/or co-owner] of all Awards
Programs held at the [your web site] web site, do
hereby declare on behalf of myself and any other
Evaluator/s who may be contracted at any time by [your
web site] to evaluate for any [your web site]
Sponsored Award Program, that we agree to advance and
promote the Web site Evaluator Code of Ethics in order to
ensure fairness to all Applicants and to maintain the
honor and integrity of Applicants, Evaluators and Awards.
We agree that all critiques given will be constructive in
nature as positive comment is productive. We will
refrain from criticism unless specifically requested by an
Applicant, and in such instances, will remain positive
where possible in an effort to promote goodwill and
advance the level of quality among Internet sites.
We agree to allow eligibility to all Applicants who meet
the SET (posted online, written = set) Criteria of any
particular award. We agree to be uniform in our
eligibility requirements (Criteria) and will fairly
evaluate all sites/pages meeting our Criteria which are
submitted by any Applicant. We further agree to
clearly post these Criteria.
We agree not to discriminate on grounds of race, gender,
nation of origin, religion, profession, age, mental or
physical handicap, or any other reason which is not
globally viewed as an illegal trait or manner of conduct.
We agree to set forth Awards Criteria and to adhere to
same. Proposed time frames for changes will be
posted for two (2) weeks prior to the final publishing of
same with notices posted on site so all potential
Applicants can view and understand the proposed changes.
We agree to evaluate web sites under the Criteria which
was in place at the time of any and/or all application/s.
If changes are made to Criteria AFTER application/s is/are
received, the submitted site/s will be evaluated using the
Criteria that was in effect when Applicant/s initially
submitted the site/s.
We agree to immediately inform any Criteria compliant
Applicant in writing, of a 'Refrain to Evaluate' if it is
found that a Conflict of Interest would occur in
evaluating their Web site - e.g. Such may occur upon
being requested to evaluate the Web site of a good friend.
We will offer such Applicant a choice of Evaluator taken
from our Membership Listing.
We agree to maintain a professional, friendly and positive
manner in any and/or all correspondence and/or
communication held with any Applicant/s.
We agree to evaluate all submitted sites within four (4)
weeks of receipt of submission. If this deadline
cannot be met, we agree to suspend submissions until we
can again work within this timeframe.
We agree not to divulge any information about any
Applicant to persons, groups, or agencies not directly
connected to our Awards Programs, and only then for the
purpose of evaluating submissions and notifying winners.
All information received from Applicants via e-mail
submissions or submission forms will be deemed private.
We agree to encourage and promote the use of original
material for Awards Programs Criteria and evaluation
processes. We agree to assist any person requesting
advice concerning ethical evaluation for and disbursement
of awards. PLEASE NOTE: The Awards Evaluation
processes in use at [your web site] are copyrighted
material and written authorization is required for their
use.
We agree to maintain any owned individual web site/s that
include Awards Program/s to a standard that meets the
Criteria of the Award/s given. In the case of any
Award/s offered that is/are OUTSIDE the main subject of
our web site/s, any and/or all such web site/s will be
maintained to a high standard of integrity in all
its/their main areas.
We agree to maximum dimensions of Awards given in courtesy
of web sites that will use them. If the maximum
dimensions cannot be adhered to then a text only link will
be permitted for graphics larger than maximum size.
(Maximum size dimensions offered from this web site are:
no more than [200] pixels Height and [200]
pixels Width.)
We agree that there will be only one obligation for
winning Awards from this web site beyond meeting the
Criteria. It is not, and never will be, mandatory at
this web site to sign a Guest book or to join a mailing
list. It is a requirement that any Awards granted
from this web site must be linked back to our web site in
a method that will be outlined in Award notification
e-mails.
We agree that we will not grant Awards to, or in any other
manner endorse or promote, any web site that endorses,
promotes or contains content which is considered globally
to be illegal or discriminatory whether same be against
human or wildlife.
We agree that we will not accept favors of any sort in
exchange for preferential treatment of submissions.
We will at all times maintain a high standard of honesty
and integrity.
We agree that we will take all measures necessary to
maintain the honor and integrity of our Awards Programs.
Submitted on this day, [date posted].
