Commitment Level Formatting
For an example of the required format, see the 2019 LifeBridge Organ and Tissue Sharing Case Study
Page Limits
The limits given below include all illustrations, figures, tables, and appendices. Covers, labeled tabs, and divider pages that contain only titles do not count toward the limits. However, if these pages contain additional material, such as process descriptions, quotations, figures, tables, or illustrations, they count toward the total page allotment.
If any section exceeds the page limit, the Baldrige Program will ask your official contact point to identify which pages to remove.
| SECTION | PAGE LIMIT (SINGLE-SIDED) | |
|---|---|---|
| Organizational Profile | 5 |
Page & Text Format
| ELEMENT | REQUIREMENT | NOTES | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper type | Standard | 8.5" x 11" white | Two-sided printing is strongly recommended. Please ensure that both sides of pages are legible. |
Paper Orientation
| ELEMENT | REQUIREMENT | NOTES | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text pages | Portrait | ||||
| Pages with graphs | figures | and data tables | Portrait or landscape | ||
| Lines per page | 60 maximum | Count headings and blank lines separating paragraphs | but don’t count recurring page headers | such as “Baldrige Award Application | page X.” |
| Leading | 2 points (or the equivalent) between lines | 1 point of leading equals 0.0138" (1/72 inches). |
Margins
| ELEMENT | REQUIREMENT | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| Left (bound side) | .75" (3/4 inch) minimum | |
| Right | 0.5" (1/2 inch) minimum | |
| Text columns | 2 (preferred) | Leave at least .25" (1/4 inch) between columns. |
Numbering
| ELEMENT | REQUIREMENT | NOTES | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Figures within the Organizational Profile and item sections | In sequence | Use numbers corresponding to the section (e.g. | Figure P.1-1 | Figure P.1-2 | Figure 2.1-1 | Figure 2.1-2). |
Font Type & Size
| ELEMENT | REQUIREMENT | NOTES | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Running text | Times New Roman or Arial | 10 point minimum | Don’t use narrow | compressed | or condensed fonts. | ||
| The font and type size need not be uniform so long as they meet the requirements. Smaller type sizes make it difficult for examiners to interpret the data and to provide accurate and actionable feedback. If you shrink graphics to fit the space available | ensure that text in the reduced figure meets the requirement. | ||||||
| Tables mainly filled with text | Times New Roman or Arial | 8 points minimum | |||||
| Other graphics (charts | graphs | data tables | and other figures) | including titles and captions | Any font | 8 points minimum |
Graphics
- See the font and type-size requirements in the table above.
- Clearly label each figure using descriptive text. For example, the title of the third figure for item 7.1 might read “Figure 7.1-3: Reliability of Service: Carrier-Dropped Calls.”
- Clearly label all axes and units of measure.
- For information on using graphics in category 7 (Results), see “Guidelines for Responding to Results Items” in the Baldrige Excellence Framework booklet that’s appropriate for your organization’s sector.