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For the first time in Ms. JD history, Ms. JD will be honoring exceptional women in connection with our annual conference, Passion Forward, which will take place February 21-22nd, 2014 in Austin, Texas.  The Passion Forward Awards will celebrate women who have demonstrated passion for their careers and shared that passion with other men and women. There are six awards available. Consistent with Ms. JD’s mission of supporting law students and young lawyers, four of the awards will go to a woman or group of women who have been practicing law for ten years or less. One award will go to a nominee, at any stage of her career, who has demonstrated her support and investment in those coming up behind her. One award will go to a group of women who are accomplishing unique feats by working together. For more information about the awards, see below: 

Woman of Inspiration Award - To a woman who regardless of her practice area or type of practice inspires others by her commitment and passion to her work.  This award is also available to law students who are not practicing yet but have shown commitment and passion to an issue they care about. (3 available)

Road Less Traveled Award - To a woman who is using her J.D. in a unique, non-traditional, way to pursue an issue or cause that she is passionate about. (Need not be in legal practice.)

Sharing Her Passion Award - To a woman who has practiced for more than ten years who is inspiring younger women lawyers through sponsorship, mentorship, and sharing her passion for the practice. 

Women's Strength in Numbers Award - To two or more women who have partnered with one another to create a unique program, business, or organization. (The group may include men and the success need not be in legal practice.)

Nominations:

To nominate an awardee, send all of the below information in a single email to conference@ms-jd.org. The subject line of your email should be “Passion Forward Nominee for ___.” Please fill the blank with the name of the award you are submitting a nomination for. Nomination materials should include:

1. Links to the person's or people's relevant webpages (e.g. LinkedIn, Blog, Article, Twitter, etc.) (up to ten links).

2. Up to five letters of recommendation (not to be more than one page); OR we encourage you to submit up to five video nominations of less than 2 minutes.

3. Anything else you may find relevant for the committee.

4. The total submission should not be more than 20 pages or 20 minutes.

Nominations must be submitted by December 15, 2013.  The Passion Forward Awards will be distributed the Thursday night (February 20th) before Ms. JD’s Passion Forward Conference at a special cocktail event. We look forward to seeing our nominees, awardees, and their supporters there.