Oklahoma State Award for Performance Excellence Level Formatting
In your application, include information on all of your organization’s units or subunits. Do not add links to websites. Examiners base their evaluations solely on information within your application.
Your award application must contain the items listed in the order given below:
Blank Front Cover
To help ensure confidentiality, do not include text or illustrations.
Title Page
Give the name of your organization. You may also include the address and logo, illustrations, the date, a statement indicating that this is an application for the Baldrige Award, and/or a statement regarding the confidentiality of the content. Do not include additional information, text, or links to websites.
Labeled Tabs or Divider Pages
Use tabs or divider pages to separate the sections listed below. On each, include only the section title. If you include additional text or illustrations, the pages will count toward the 50-page limit for the Responses Addressing All Criteria Items.
- Table of Contents
- Organization Chart(s)
- Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations
- Organizational Profile
- Responses Addressing All Criteria Items
If you wish, you may also use labeled tabs or divider pages to separate your responses to the seven Criteria categories.
Table of Contents
Indicate the page numbers for the:
- Organization Chart(s)
- Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations
- Organizational Profile
- individual category and item sections
You don’t need to indicate the page numbers for areas to address, tables, and figures.
Organization Charts
- line-and-box organization chart(s) for your organization
- line-and-box organization chart(s) of the parent (if your organization is a subunit)
Glossary of Terms & Abbreviations
In the glossary, include only terms and abbreviations used in your application, with very brief definitions. Do not include descriptions of processes, tools, methods, or techniques in the glossary, or your application will be returned to you. See the 2019 LifeBridge Organ Tissue and Sharing Case Study for additional examples.
Acceptable examples of a glossary entry are:
- PES: Performance Evaluation System
- SPP: strategic planning process
The following examples are not acceptable because it includes a description:
- PES: Performance Evaluation System used by ST members to assess associate capability and capacity when setting organizational direction.
- SPP: strategic planning process, which has nine steps: a review of key documents, such as the research contract with the USDA; a two-day retreat; a review of funding and mandates; a review of current organizational performance; a review of an environmental scan; appreciative inquiry; brainstorming; allocation of resources; and creation of action plans.
Organizational Profile
This section outlines your organization and states the key factors that influence its operations and future directions. Examiners use this vital part of your application throughout their review. For guidelines on preparing this section, see the appropriate Baldrige Excellence Framework booklet.
Responses Addressing All Criteria Items
In this section, respond to each item as a whole, using the category and item designations in the Criteria within the appropriate Baldrige Excellence Framework booklet. In your responses to the areas to address within the items, emphasize your organization and its performance system, maintaining the order of the areas.
Label the areas to address as in the Criteria booklets (e.g., 4.2a). You may group responses for multiple areas (e.g., 4.2a, b). If an area to address does not pertain to your organization or its performance system, explain why in one or two sentences.
Discussion of results and the results themselves should be close together in a Baldrige Award application. Trends that show a significant beneficial or adverse change should be explained.
Use figure numbers that correspond to items. For example, the third figure for item 7.1 would be Figure 7.1-3.
For guidelines on responding to the Criteria, see the appropriate Baldrige Excellence Framework booklet for your organization’s sector (i.e., Business/Nonprofit, Education, or Health Care).
Summary of Supplemental Section(s). If the Baldrige Program informed you during eligibility certification that you must submit one or more supplemental sections, include a brief description of each section, listing the products, services, and NAICS codes.
Blank Back Cover
Do not include text or illustrations.