An annual award to recognize excellence in legal publishing was established by the CALL Executive in 1998. This award was initiated as a means of acknowledging the work that is done by publishers to provide the legal profession with high quality materials for use in understanding and researching the law. It is hoped that this award serves both as a means to honour publishers who have produced excellent products and to encourage excellence in new publishing endeavours. In 2005, the award was renamed the Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing to honour Dr. Lawford for his contributions to the Canadian law library community.

The award may be given for a wide variety of publishing endeavours – a specific book, series, service, or a particularly innovative publishing venture. All formats are eligible, including print, electronic, and audio-visual. The intent is to recognize excellent products and services, whether published in a traditional format or with new technology. English- and French-language publications will be considered. Although this is an award for publishers, recognition will be given to authors and editors where required.

Award Committee 
Chair: Past President, CALL/ACBD

Members:

• 4 individuals who will appointed by the President for a two year, non-renewable, term.

Award Criteria:
Nominations must satisfy the following requirements in order to be eligible for consideration:

• Nominations must include the name of the publisher and the title of the nominated work.
• Eligible works must have been published in the last two years, or in the case of a series, ongoing work, e-resource or website, must have achieved a particular goal, revision, or technological innovation in the last two years.
• Nominations may be made by a member of CALL, a member of the legal community or a publisher. Publishers may nominate their own works. 
• All nominations must include the names of two CALL members who support the nomination.

 

Nomination and Award Process
A call for nominations, emanating from the Chair, will be posted in the early fall (September-October) and again in early Winter (December-January) on the CALL-L listserv and on the CALL website News.
 
A call for nominations may be published in appropriate legal newsletters and legal blogs (Law Times, Lawyers Weekly, Revue du Barreau).
 
Publishers will be formally invited to submit book or product titles for consideration.  If an electronic product is nominated, the publisher will be asked to provide temporary access to the committee members for review purposes.  If no nominations are received in any given year, the Award committee will be responsible for providing a short-list (minimum of three submissions) for consideration.
 
The committee members will review all nominations for the following:
-excellence and innovation
-quality of editing, including features which enhance useability (table of contents, indices, searchability)
-significant contribution to a body of legal literature
-fills a gap in the literature
 
The committee will choose an award recipient by April 15.

The decision will be announced by the Chair of the Award Committee at that year's CALL conference. While it is hoped that worthy publications will be nominated each year and an award made, an award need not be made in a particular year if no suitable nominations are received.
 

The Award 
The Award will be presented by the Chair of the Award Committee at the annual CALL conference. The Award itself will take the form of a plaque, with space for a number of brass plates on which the name of the publisher and year of the award will be engraved. The plaque will remain the property of the Association. A miniature plaque or parchment certificate will be given to the winning publisher as a permanent memento of the award. Notice of the Award recipient will be published in Canadian Law Library Review and mounted on the CALL Infopages in both official languages.

The deadline for nominations is March 23, 2012. To make a nomination, please contact: Rosalie Fox, Past President, CALL/ACBD
 
Rosalie Fox, BA, MLS
Director | Directrice
Library & Information Management Branch | Direction de la Bibliothèque et de la gestion de l’information
Supreme Court of Canada | Cour suprême du Canada
301 Wellington Street | 301, rue Wellington
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0J1
Rosalie.Fox@SCC-CSC.GC.CA
Tel. | Tél.: 613-996-9971 / Fax | Téléc.: 613-952-2832

Previous Award Winners
The following publishers are previous recipients of the Award:

• 2011 Not presented
• 2010 Nova Scotia Barristers' Society-Library & Information Services, for the Nova Scotia Annotated Civil Procedure Rules 
• 2009 Slaw.ca 
• 2008 Not presented
• 2007 Maritime Law Book 
• 2006 la société québécoise d’information juridique [SOQUIJ], for its AZIMUT database
• 2005 Canadian Legal Information Institute[CanLII], for its internet-based collection of primary sources of Canadian law
• 2004 Éditions Yvon Blais, for its Common Law en poche series
• 2003 Carswell, for its eCarswell platform
• 2002 Irwin Law, for its Essentials of Canadian Law series
• 2001 Canada Law Book, for multiple publications and in recognition of its longevity and lasting contribution to the Canadian legal landscape
• 2000 Quicklaw Inc., for its American caselaw and legislation databases
• 1999 Insight Press, for its InConference CD-ROM product.