Considering submitting a nomination for the 2023 NASBP & SFAA Surety Industry Awards? Below are some tips and suggestions to make sure your entry is the best it can be!

Tiger Trust
The prestigious Tiger Trust award is given to an individual NASBP or SFAA member who successfully persuades private owners or lenders to specify contract surety bonds on their projects.

Important tips:

·       Nominations may be made by the person seeking the Tiger Trust or from another party familiar with the facts of the situation.

·       The nomination must demonstrate that the owner or lender of a specific construction project was persuaded to require surety bonds due to the candidate’s personal efforts or influence.

·       The applicant must include details of how he or she convinced the owner or lender to require a bond along with documentation from the owner or lender on official letterhead verifying the candidate’s role in persuading the owner or lender.

·       Winners must be current (2023-2024) dues paid NASBP or SFAA members.

Platinum Award
The Platinum Award is for an individual NASBP or SFAA member whose efforts to promote contract surety bonds have had a significant impact on the surety industry. This award is not based on the volume of activities, but on the successful outcome of the individual’s actions in promoting the value and benefits of contract surety bonds.

Important tips:

·       Promotional activities are those that reach a construction-related audience and encourage the use of contract surety bonds, particularly where such bonds may not be used otherwise. These activities may include exhibits, presentations, or meetings with private or public owners, lenders, contractors, subcontractors, or small and emerging contractors in an effort to convince the audience to use surety bonds.

·       Nominations for this award must summarize the significance of the individual’s accomplishments and specify outcomes and results of his or her efforts.

·       Presentations to surety and insurance audiences (agents/executives/staff) and/or lawyers will NOT count toward promotional activities.

·      Winners must be current (2023-2024) dues paid NASBP or SFAA members.

Gold Award
The Gold Award is awarded to a Local Surety Association (LSA) that conducts at least ten (10) public relations and educational activities in a calendar year to promote the use of contract surety bonds in construction to non-surety, non-insurance, or non-lawyer audiences.

Important tips:

·       Promotional activities are those that reach a construction-related audience and encourage the use of contract surety bonds, particularly where such bonds may not be used otherwise. These activities may include exhibits, presentations, or meetings with private or public owners, lenders, contractors, subcontractors, or small and emerging contractors in an effort to convince the audience to use surety bonds.

Silver Award
The Silver Award is awarded to LSAs that conduct at least five public relations and educational activities in a calendar year to promote the use of contract surety bonds in construction to non-surety, non-insurance, or non-lawyer audiences.

Important tips:

·       Promotional activities are those that reach a construction-related audience and encourage the use of contract surety bonds, particularly where such bonds may not be used otherwise. These activities may include exhibits, presentations, or meetings with private or public owners, lenders, contractors, subcontractors, or small and emerging contractors in an effort to convince the audience to use surety bonds.

Advocacy Award
The Advocacy Award is awarded to LSAs that conduct significant activities advocating for suretyship, other than public relations or educational, such as fighting legislative efforts to waive bonds or increase bond thresholds, or advocating for reasonable bond forms.

Important tips:

·       These activities could include legislative efforts, contract and/or bond form advocacy, regulatory advocacy, Legislative Fly-in participation, and others.

·       These efforts support, encourage, protect, or promote suretyship through a variety of means, but are not necessarily conducted with the intention that surety bonds will be written as a result of the activity.

Entries for 2023 Surety Industry Awards

Be sure to mark March 5, 2024, on your calendars. This is the deadline for LSAs and National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) and the Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA) members to submit nominations for the Surety Industry Awards for Excellence in Surety Bond Promotion and the Tiger Trust. All entries must be submitted via the online nomination forms available on the awards website.

Judging will take place in March, and awards will be announced at the annual meetings of the NASBP and SFAA in the spring. For complete details about the Surety Industry Awards and Tiger Trust, visit the Surety Industry Awards website.