The Partnership for Public Service is accepting nominations for the 2027 Service to America Medals®—also known as the Sammies—the premier awards program for career federal employees.
The Sammies recognizes career civil servants who improve our lives for the better. If you know a federal employee who demonstrates innovation, strong leadership and a passion for public service, then help us shine a spotlight on their accomplishments.
Why nominate?
Federal employees are facing unprecedented challenges and uncertainty, making it critical to protect and strengthen our nonpartisan, expert civil service. The Sammies are more than a celebration—they are a call to action.
Your nomination elevates the vital work of federal employees, shifting the public perception of government and inspiring the next generation of federal leaders who will help our communities and ensure a better future for all.
Who can be nominated?
Nominees must be career civilian federal employees of the executive branch of the U.S. government—current or former. We welcome nominations for individuals and teams.
Nominators can be anyone—a federal employee, friend, family member or supervisor. We accept self-nominations.
Successful nominees will demonstrate:
- Strong commitment to federal service.
- A significant accomplishment within their field that meets the needs of the American people. There is no time limit on the nominated accomplishment, but a strong nomination will demonstrate sustained, positive impact on the American public. We encourage you to include details about the impact from the time of nomination.
- Excellence in customer service.
What makes a strong Sammies nomination?
- Significant accomplishment: Articulate how the nominee’s work benefits the nation and focus on federal service achievements, not volunteer or military work outside the agency.
- Attention-grabbing: Capture the reviewer’s attention in the first few sentences with bold statements about what the nominee has done. Read profiles of past honorees to use as models for writing the nomination.
- Measurable impact: Demonstrate scale and significance with concrete data like participants served, money saved or lives affected.
- Meaningful innovation: Highlight what’s bigger, better, more effective or more efficient by describing new processes or collaborations.
- Inspiring leadership: Demonstrate how the nominee achieves results through their leadership, including cross-agency collaboration or public-private partnerships.
- Exceptional references: Go beyond the nominee’s colleagues and include external endorsers from private sector, academia or a beneficiary of the nominee’s work.
- Simple and clear: Explain the nominee’s specific role in achieving the stated accomplishments, avoiding acronyms and insider jargon.
Ready to nominate?
The deadline to submit a nomination for the 2027 Service to America Medals is Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. Finalists will be announced during Public Service Recognition Week in early May.
If you have any questions, visit our nominations portal or contact us at sammies@ourpublicservice.org.