The Alliant Energy James R. Underkofler Excellence Teaching Awards were created to recognize outstanding undergraduate teachers in the Alliant Energy service area including UW-Madison.

This award honors Jeffrey Clay Erlanger, who was an individual of integrity, passion, intelligence and civility. Jeff understood that thoughtful and caring people could have very different views on how to best address our community's many complex issues and problems. The award recognizes City of Madison residents who share Jeff Erlanger's dedication to, and passion for, public policy, civility and individual and human rights. The recipient will be an individual who conducts their daily life with these values and who has made a significant impact on the Madison community.

The Marygold Melli Achievement Award was established in 1994 by the Legal Association for Women. Each year it recognizes and celebrates an outstanding individual in Wisconsin who has made substantial contributions to the interests of women in the law, has achieved professional excellence, and has contributed significantly to the eradication of gender bias in the legal system. The award honors Marygold (Margo) Shire Melli, Professor Emerita at the University of Wisconsin Law School, a distinguished teacher, prolific scholar, parent of four children and contributor to her profession and her community.

These awards are for volunteers who did outstanding work to support the Partners in Giving Campaign.
• Doug Palm Community Service Award: Volunteer demonstrating creativity, resourcefulness, enthusiasm, integrity and outstanding achievement.
• Partners in Giving Excellence Award: A dedicated reliable, grassroots involved person who did an outstanding job in making the campaign a success.
• Robert A. Alesch Award: Volunteer who has served in multiple Partners in Giving leadership roles over an extended period.
• Partners in Giving Innovation Events Award: Individual or individuals within an agency, school or unit who initiated or conducted a special event or events which measurably improved the agency’s, school’s or unit’s campaign over prior years.

You must be a State Bar member to view the awards page. To qualify for the competition the primary author must be a State Bar member in good standing and the brief must have been submitted to an appellate court, but it doesn't need to have been the winning brief. Briefs are judged on clarity of writing, depth of analysis, and persuasiveness – not on the apparent merits of any issue.

The Diversity & Inclusion Award celebrates an individual who contributes to and enhances diversity and inclusion within the Wisconsin legal profession.

Through "That's a Fine Idea! Legal Innovation Wisconsin," the State Bar of Wisconsin welcomes nominations from the legal profession and public that help tell the story of legal innovation in Wisconsin.

This award recognizes an individual or organization that has: Demonstrated dedication to the development and delivery of legal services to the poor; Contributed significantly toward developing innovative ways to deliver volunteer legal services; Participated in an activity that resulted in satisfying previously unmet legal needs or extending legal services to an underserved segment of the population; Handled pro bono cases that favorably affected the provision of services to the poor; Worked on legislation that contributed substantially to legal services to the poor; Made an outstanding effort to provide legal services to an underserved segment of the population; or Any combination of these contributions.

The State Bar offers several awards for public interest law recognizing attorneys, legal workers and law students.

The award recognizes a lawyer who has made significant contributions to the legal community, has shown respect for the legal system, and has demonstrated a love for the law and what it seeks to accomplish. Nominees must be 60 years or older, have helped to improve the legal system, and have shown leadership in advancing the quality of justice for all.

The Outstanding Mentor Award recognizes a mentor with six or more years of practice experience who is a State Bar member in good standing.
The Outstanding Young Lawyer Award honors a young lawyer who has made an impact in their practice area, in service to the State Bar of Wisconsin, and in service to the community.

UW Law School’s annual teaching awards demonstrate the value we place on excellent teaching. Our faculty engage and inspire UW Law students through thoughtful pedagogy, and we are proud to honor them for this important work. Awards include
• Classroom Teacher of the Year
• Clinical Teacher of the Year
• Adjunct Teacher of the Year

The Academic Staff Excellence awards honor nine academic staff members annually in the following categories:
• Chancellor’s Hilldale Award for Excellence in Teaching
• Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Research (two awards)
• Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Service to the University
• Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Leadership (two awards)
• Robert and Carroll Heideman Award for Excellence in Public Service and Outreach
• Martha Casey Award for Dedicated Service to the University
• Ann Wallace Career Achievement Award

Administrative Improvement Awards recognize outstanding work at UW-Madison in process design or redesign, innovation, development or customer service that resulted in improved efficiency, increased revenue channels, cost savings and/or improved service delivery. The award may go to an individual or team.

The Libraries Staff Service Awards, which is inclusive of all UW Madison campus libraries, recognize service in the following areas:
• Exemplary working relationships with library colleagues and/or library patrons
• Contributions to establishing a welcoming and inclusive learning and research environment
• High productivity coupled with teamwork, leadership, and/or cooperation
• Creativity, initiative, and independence that positively influences library services
• Achievements and work products that significantly benefit library services.
One academic staff member, one university staff member, and up to four student staff will be recognized.

The Chancellor’s Entrepreneurial Achievement Awards recognize UW innovators and alumni who further the Wisconsin Idea through outstanding accomplishments in entrepreneurship. Honorees have achieved great entrepreneurial success that contributes to economic growth and social good, offers models for the UW community, and inspires the campus culture of entrepreneurship.

Individual faculty members, departments, and student organizations are invited to submit nominations of faculty members whose teaching is of such quality that it merits recognition and award. The committee encourages the nomination of any exceptional distinguished teacher, regardless of specialty or rank. The UW-Madison faculty distinguished teaching awards include:
• Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Awards (5 awards)
• Chancellor’s Inclusive Excellence Award recognizes achievements in diversity and inclusion (2 awards)
• Class of 1955 Teaching Excellence Award is designated for an Assistant or Associate Professor
• Emil Steiger Teaching Award
• Van Hise Outreach Teaching Award recognizes excellence in outreach teaching
• Excellence in Community-Based Learning Teaching Award celebrates the incorporation of meaningful community engagement into courses
• Chancellor’s Teaching Innovation Award recognizes innovation in approach to learning

The purpose of the HR Partnership Award is to recognize two teams that exemplified what it means for HR to serve in consultative partnership with HR’s customers and colleagues alike. Any UW–Madison employee (faculty/staff) may nominate a team of two or more employees who have modeled the way since 2020 or early 2021 through the present. Team is defined here broadly: the team of people nominated can be within one unit or across different units at UW–Madison.

The Community–University Engagement Award, a program started under the leadership of LaMarr Billups, recognizes the work of UW–Madison faculty, staff, and students, and their community partners across the state of Wisconsin, as they address pressing public issues in Madison and the surrounding region.

This award recognizes members of critical UW Madison campus partners that contribute to an inclusive campus community for students with disabilities.

These awards acknowledge and honor women of color among UW-Madison faculty, staff, students (undergraduate or post-baccalaureate) and in the greater Madison community, who have made outstanding contributions in one or more of the following areas:
• social justice, activism and advocacy on behalf of disadvantaged, marginalized populations
• community service
• scholarly research, writing, speaking and/or teaching on race, ethnicity and indigeneity in U.S. society, and
• community building on- or off-campus, to create an inclusive and respectful environment for all

Slesinger Awards recognize mentoring of women, trans, or non-binary faculty on the tenure track. Nominations from a group of writers or a single writer are welcome; however, a collective nomination of a mentor who has supported more than one protégé is looked on favorably. The most successful nominations clearly articulate how a mentor’s efforts have had a positive impact in the life and career of the protégé(s) and/or have had a lasting impact on the institution.

The Teaching Academy offers two annual awards: the Distinguished Fellow Award and the Distinguished Future Faculty Partner Award. Recipients are awarded based on demonstrated sustained excellence in teaching and learning on the UW-Madison campus and dedicated service to the Teaching Academy. Teaching Academy award recipients cannot be current Executive Committee members.

The University Staff Recognition Award is presented each year to those employees who are recognized for their outstanding achievements. Everyone who is nominated, regardless if they are among the final 10 winners or not, will have their names published on a ‘Roll of Honor’. The Elizabeth S. Pringle Award is limited to those members of the University Staff who hold Office Support Titles which includes many Law School and Law Library staff

The William F. Vilas Trust Estate provides funding for numerous awards each year including the following: Research Professorship Award, Associates Award, Distinguished Achievement Professorship Award, Faculty Mid-Career/Early Career Investigator Award, Research Investigator Award, Life Cycle Award, Retirement Award, Fellowships and Scholarships Award, and Supplemental Research Funds Award.

The Vilas Faculty Early Investigator Award recognizes research and teaching excellence in faculty who are relatively early in their careers. The Vilas Faculty Mid-Career Investigator Awards to recognize research and teaching excellence in mid-career faculty members. These awards provide between $25,000 and $100,000 in flexible funding over two years.

These awards recognize people, units, and initiatives whose work has fostered greater access and success for students from historically underrepresented and disadvantaged populations at UW System campuses.
Nominees’ work must demonstrate:
• Sustainable positive impact on equity and diversity, leading to positive university change
• Accountability demonstrated through routine assessment and use of feedback loops to promote forward movement on equity and diversity goals
• Intersections across multiple dimensions of diversity
• Collaborations with other units, departments, or communities, both within the university and beyond

The purpose of the Regents Teaching Excellence Awards is to recognize outstanding teaching in the UW System. The funds for this award are expected to be used for further program enhancements, such as professional development or teaching-related supplies and expenses.

The purpose of the Regents University Staff Excellence Awards is to recognize the dedicated work, vital services, initiative, and outstanding contributions of the UW System’s university staff. The funds for these awards are designated to support professional development or other activities approved by the recipients that enhance a university program or function.

These awards demonstrate the Regents’ strong appreciation for the dedicated work, vital services, and outstanding contributions of the UW System’s noninstructional academic staff. Across UW System, there will be two individual recipients, and a third award to honor an outstanding program. Each award will be for $7,500.
Nominees for the individual award should be non-instructional academic staff, and nominations for the program award should be ones that are staffed primarily by non-instructional academic staff. The Regent awards committee will screen nominees based on four criteria: excellence of performance, personal interaction, initiative and creativity, and outstanding achievement.

Successful candidates will be LGBTQ+ people or their allies whose contributions have advanced the work of diversity, equity, and inclusive excellence in the following ways:
• Whose advocacy, activism, or scholarship has fostered social justice and organizational change
• Who have created positive transformation within their institutions and/or the community to achieve the goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Whose efforts are improving the climate for, or status and visibility of, LGBTQ+ people

The Outstanding Women of Color in Education Award honors women of color from around the state for their leadership in making significant and lasting contribution to their campuses, their communities, or both. Successful candidates will be women of color whose contributions have advanced the work of diversity, equity, and Inclusive Excellence. UW System faculty, staff, student, or community members are eligible.

The Charles L. Goldberg Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to one lawyer in recognition of lifetime service in the public interest.

This award recognizes a lawyer, law firm, or groups of State Bar of Wisconsin members for their work on a recent or ongoing law-related education or public service project that promotes public understanding of the law, improves the administration of justice, or provides other law-related public service that impacts Wisconsin residents and/or State Bar members.

Awards are given to individuals and organizations that have demonstrated a significant contribution toward creating a diverse and inclusive business/academic/social community though the implementation of policies, procedures, initiatives, and/or programs.

This award recognizes an attorney or support staff who have at least 15 years in the legal community and have excelled at their chosen profession.

The Wisconsin Law Journal will award a Lifetime Achievement honor to an outstanding attorney or judge who has spent his/her life leading the legal community to new heights.

This award recognizes an attorney or support staff who have displayed excellence during their first 8 years in the field.

Lawyers in Wisconsin do outstanding work. But where would they be without the members of their support staff who work hard behind the scenes to get it all done? The Wisconsin Law Journal is honoring the state’s unsung legal heroes.

The Wisconsin Law Journal honors outstanding women lawyers.

There are numerous WLA awards recognizing outstanding service by libraries, librarians, and support staff. Includes Library of the Year award, Muriel Fuller Award, Special Service Award, Paralibrarian Award, and Librarian of the Year Award.