NACHA’s annual Payments Systems Awards recognize the highest degree of achievement in the development, implementation and advancement of electronic payments. These prestigious awards celebrate outstanding accomplishments and superior leadership in innovation, excellence and promotion of the positive environmental impact of electronic payments, statements and billing.

1.
THE
NACHA
PAYMENTS SYSTEM
AWARDS
NACHA—The Electronic Payments Association’s annual Payments
System Awards recognize the highest degree of achievement in
the development, implementation and advancement
of electronic payments.
Celebrate Your
Accomplishments
Gain the
Recognition You
Deserve

2.
Table of Contents
The 2014 NACHA Payments System Awards ....................................................................... 3
An Introduction to the 2014 NACHA Payments System Awards ........................................... 3
The Awards ............................................................................................................................ 3
Top 10 Reasons to Submit ..................................................................................................... 4
The Evaluation Process .......................................................................................................... 5
Awards Luncheon .................................................................................................................. 5
Release and Usage ................................................................................................................. 6
Questions .............................................................................................................................. 6
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The 2014 George Mitchell Payments System Excellence Award Nomination and
Submission Guidelines ....................................................................................................... 7
The 2013 George Mitchell Payments System Excellence Award Recipient .......................... 7
Who is Eligible for the 2014 George Mitchell Payments System Excellence Award? ........... 8
The 2014 George Mitchell Payments System Award Submission Package Overview........... 8
The 2014 George Mitchell Payments System Award Narrative Guidelines .......................... 9
How to Submit Your Entires ................................................................................................ 11
The 2014 Payments System Awards
General Nomination Criteria ................................................................................................. 5
The 2014 Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award Nomination and Submission Guidelines ....... 12
The 2013 Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award Recipient ....................................................... 12
Who is Eligible for the 2014 Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award? ........................................ 12
The 2014 Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award Submission Package Overview ...................... 13
The 2014 Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award Narrative Guidelines ..................................... 14
How to Submit Your Entries ................................................................................................ 15
The 2014 PayItGreen® Award Nomination and Submission Guidelines ............................. 16
The 2013 PayItGreen Award Recipient ............................................................................... 16
Who is Eligible for the 2014 PayItGreen Award? ................................................................ 16
The 2014 PayItGreen Award Submission Package Overview .............................................. 17
The 2014 PayItGreen Award Narrative Guidelines ............................................................. 18
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How to Submit Your Entries ................................................................................................ 19
2014 NACHA Payments System Awards Nomination Cover Sheet .................................... 20
2014 NACHA Payments System Awards Nomination Package Checklist ........................... 22
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The 2014 Payments System Awards
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4.
The
NACHA Payments
System Awards
NACHA’s annual Payments System Awards recognize the highest degree of
achievement in the development, implementation and advancement of electronic
payments. These prestigious awards celebrate outstanding accomplishments and
superior leadership in innovation, excellence and promotion of the positive
environmental impact of electronic payments, statements and billing.
NACHA invites your nominations for:
 The 2014 George Mitchell Payments System Excellence Award
 The 2014 Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award
 The 2014 PayItGreen® Award
The 2014 Payments System Awards
An Introduction to the 2014 NACHA Payments System
Awards
The Awards
The 2014 George Mitchell Payments
System Excellence Award
The George Mitchell Payments System
Excellence Award, named after former vice‐chair of the Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve George Mitchell, an early proponent of electronic payments, honors
an individual or organization that has shown superior leadership in the
development, implementation or advancement of domestic or international
electronic payments.
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5.
The 2014 Kevin O’Brien ACH
Quality Award
The Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award,
named in honor of the late Kevin O’Brien, NACHA’s 1999‐2000 chair, recognizes best
practices in ACH participants’ efforts to maintain or improve the quality of ACH
services and/or the integrity and reliability of the ACH Network.
The 2014 Payments System Awards
The 2014 PayItGreen Award
The PayItGreen Award honors individual or
organizational leadership, vision and
innovation in the education and promotion
of electronic payments, statements and bills to reduce environmental impact. The
recipient successfully demonstrates, through outreach initiatives, that the ACH
Network provides simple, safe, smart and green solutions.
Top 10 Reasons to Submit
The Payments System Awards recognize the industry’s most prestigious
achievements. Winning one of these awards brings industry recognition and
credibility to a recipient’s programs and services. In addition, award recipients are
broadly acknowledged by NACHA and given promotional opportunities for
recognition among their peers, including:
1. Public recognition at the PAYMENTS conference Awards Luncheon
2. Visibility in an exclusive Awards Luncheon program
3. Participation in video interviews onsite at PAYMENTS
4. Joint press release with NACHA, announcing the winners
5. News article on the recipients in the PAYMENTS Daily (onsite enewsletter)
6. News article on the recipients in NewsLink, (NACHA’s member enewsletter)
7. Award logo, for use in recipient’s promotional efforts
8. Photos from awards program, for use in recipient’s promotional efforts
9. Visibility throughout the year in the awards section of NACHA.org
10. Recognition during the next year’s nomination process as a past recipient
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The Evaluation Process
A team of industry experts will evaluate each nomination against a rigorous standard
designed to assess innovation, quality, industry impact and measurable outcomes.

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Contributes sustained (12‐month minimum) measurable benefits to industry
stakeholders.
Exhibits quantifiable, statistically significant outcomes, indicating the
program or process achieved its stated goals.
Meets clear goals and objectives that support defined business goals.
General Nomination Criteria
The 2014 Payments System Awards
An award‐winning entry:
Nominations for the 2014 NACHA Payments System Awards is a privilege, providing
individuals and organizations with high visibility in the industry. Nominees must
adhere to NACHA’s Code of Conduct and conduct their activities with the highest
levels of integrity and professionalism. This is an inclusive nomination process and is
not restricted in any way other than NACHA, Regional Payments Associations and
their employees are not eligible for these awards.
Awards Luncheon
Award recipients will be recognized at PAYMENTS 2014, April 6‐9, 2014 at the
Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida during an awards luncheon held
in their honor. Sponsored by TD Bank.
Those submitting should plan to attend the PAYMENTS conference to accept the
award if selected. Verbal recognition also will be given to the individual or entity
that nominated the award recipients.
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Release and Usage
The 2014 Payments System Awards
Nominators understand and agree that their nominations will become the property
of NACHA—The Electronic Payments Association. NACHA and the Regional Payments
Associations may use the materials and photos from the awards ceremony for
editorial, analytical, promotional, educational and other purposes.
Award recipients are encouraged to promote their award recognition through press
releases, email tags, etc., and are authorized to use the NACHA registered award
logos as appropriate. These communications activities should be coordinated
directly with NACHA following the formal recognition of your award at PAYMENTS
2014.
Deadline
The deadline for entries is February 28, 2014.
Questions
Contact NACHA via email at nachacommunications@nacha.org or by phone at 703‐
561‐3925 with questions or to request assistance with your submission.
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8.
The
George Mitchell Payments
System Excellence Award
Nomination and Submission
Guidelines
The George Mitchell Payments System Excellence
Award, named after former vice‐chair of the Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve George Mitchell, an
early proponent of electronic payments, honors an
individual or organization that has shown superior leadership in the development,
implementation or advancement of domestic or international electronic payments.
The 2013 George Mitchell Payments System Excellence
Award Recipient
The 2013 George Mitchell Payments System Award honored two recipients: Apex
Information Technologies and Richard Gregg, fiscal assistant secretary of the U.S.
Department of Treasury.
Apex Information Technologies was recognized for true technology leadership in the
healthcare industry. Through its efforts, Apex Information Technologies is helping
promote ACH payments in an industry with some of the most complex billing
requirements of any consumer‐facing industry, including privacy regulations,
complex service descriptions, insurance splits and coding conventions. Apex
Information Technologies was recognized for its role in developing online payment
tools to help healthcare providers drastically increase electronic payment adoption
by self‐pay patients.
The 2014 Payments System Awards
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For his years of dedicated service to advancing electronic payments, Richard Gregg
was bestowed the 2013 George Mitchell Payments System Award. Richard Gregg’s
notable contributions span the course of his 40‐year career with the U.S.
Department of the Treasury. They include numerous operational and regulatory
changes to convert hundreds of millions of paper payments originated or received
by the U.S. Treasury to ACH, including creating and implementing the Go Direct
campaign.
The 2014 Payments System Awards
Who is Eligible for the 2014 George Mitchell Payments
System Excellence Award?
Any individual or organization that has demonstrated superior leadership in the
development, implementation, or advancement of domestic or international
electronic payments is eligible for this award. There are no restrictions as to who can
be nominated for this category, other than NACHA, Regional Payments Associations
and their employees are not eligible for this award.
The 2014 George Mitchell Payments System Award
Submission Package Overview
Your 2014 George Mitchell Payments System Award nomination package must
include:
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
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A cover sheet that includes the organization’s name, address, contact
information and the name of the submitter, if different. If nominating an
individual, please be sure to include the individual’s name, title, organization,
address, contact information and the name of the submitter, if different. (1
page)
An executive summary that contains a brief statement of the problem or
process covered in the major document(s), background information, concise
analysis and main conclusions. It is intended to be a concise summary to aid
evaluators. (1 page)

10. 
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

A narrative description that chronicles a program, project or marketing
campaign that results in sustained (12‐month minimum) increased adoption
or advancement of electronic payments.. If nominating an individual, the
narrative should detail how this person was instrumental in a program,
project or marketing campaign that drove this change. (not to exceed 10
pages)
Separate supporting data, statistics, survey results, customer feedback and
other related information that attests to the efficacy of the project or an
individual’s efforts. If applicable, detail the goals of the project, provide a
description of the old processes and new, describe the project structure,
summarize and provide statistics on the amount of work effort, illustrate the
benefits of the new process, explain the general applicability to ACH
participants, and list transferable lessons learned. If submitting for an
individual, explain how this person was instrumental to the success of the
project. (not to exceed 5 pages)
If a video is also used as part of the submission packet, it cannot exceed
three minutes.
A completed submission checklist. (1 page)
The 2014 George Mitchell Payments System Award
Narrative Guidelines
The 2014 Payments System Awards
Please use the following format when crafting your narrative. Items 1 through 4
below should not exceed 10 pages.
1. Describe the leadership qualities demonstrated by the nominee in the following
three areas:
 Thought leadership: Detail how the individual or organization
differentiated itself from the competition by developing and delivering a
process or product of value to stakeholders and customers that exceeded
expectations.
 Innovation: Detail how the individual or organization applied invention,
creativity and problem‐solving skills to meet end users’ needs.
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11.

Originality: Detail how the individual or organization applied
independent thought or constructive imagination to address industry
challenges.
The 2014 Payments System Awards
Process and Implementation
2. Demonstrate the implementation project process, highlighting the areas below:
 How did the individual or organization involve executive and senior‐level
staff in the project?
 Describe the roll‐out process and its effectiveness.
 Compare the nominee’s business process to industry best practices.
 Summarize the communication plan. Specifically, how did the nominee
communicate value to external and internal audiences?
Leadership Measurement
3. Analyze project leadership using recognized quality outcomes and
measurements, examples and compelling anecdotes, that:
 Provide evidence of client/customer satisfaction. A video can be used to
provide client/member/customer testimonials (not to exceed three
minutes).
 Articulate clear goals and incentives and how they were met.
 If applicable, provide metrics indicating customer adoption and
participation.
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4. Explain how this project/process advanced electronic payments in the following
areas:
 The payments system
 System participants
 Financial institutions
 Businesses
 Consumers
 Adoption of electronic payments
The more criteria you are able to address, the greater your chances of becoming an
award recipient. We recognize that it may not be possible to address all of the above
criteria.
How to Submit Your Entries
Please send an electronic copy of your entry package, bundled as a PDF, to
nachacommunications@nacha.org.
NACHA will acknowledge receipt of your submission within 72 hours. If you do not
hear from NACHA within 72 hours, please contact NACHA by phone at 703‐561‐3925
to confirm receipt.
Due to time constraints, all entries are evaluated as submitted and will not be
returned for additional editing.
The 2014 Payments System Awards
Leadership Advancement of Electronic Payments
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13.
The 2014 Payments System Awards
The
Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality
Award Nomination and Submission
Guidelines
The Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award, named in
honor of the late Kevin O’Brien, NACHA’s 1999‐
2000 chair, recognizes best practices in ACH
participants’ efforts to maintain or improve the quality of ACH services and/or the
integrity and reliability of the ACH Network.
The 2013 Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award Recipient
The 2013 Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award went to ProfitStars for developing and
implementing SmartSight, a unique cross‐channel payment risk management and
market intelligence tool for financial institutions. In early market adoption in 2012
alone, SmartSight tracked data for more than 20 million ACH transactions, valued at
over $10 billion, representing more than 50,000 business locations.
Who is Eligible for the 2014 Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality
Award?
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Any private or public sector Originator or Receiver, depository financial institution,
third‐party service provider, processor, solution provider or ACH Operator is eligible
to receive the 2014 Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award for its quality improvement
initiatives. Eligible initiatives include any ACH‐related program, project, practice or
procedure that improves services, reduces exceptions, minimizes risk or streamlines
processing. There are no restrictions as to who can be nominated for this category,
other than NACHA, Regional Payments Associations and their employees are not
eligible for this award.

14.
Your 2014 Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award nomination package must include:
 A cover sheet that includes the organization’s name, address, contact
information and the name of the submitter, if different.
 An executive summary that contains a brief statement of the problem or
process covered in the major document(s), background information, concise
analysis and main conclusions. It is intended as an aid to decision making by
evaluators. (1 page)
 A narrative description that chronicles a program, project or campaign that
results in sustained (12‐month minimum) payments quality improvement
through reduction in ACH Network returns or exceptions, automation and
efficiency of ACH payment processes, etc. (not to exceed 10 pages)
 Separate supporting data, statistics, survey results, customer feedback and
other related information that attests to the efficacy of the program, project
or campaign. If applicable, detail the goals of the project, provide a
description of the old processes and new, describe the project structure,
summarize and provide statistics on the amount of work effort, illustrate the
benefits of the new process, explain the general applicability to ACH
participants, and list transferable lessons learned. (not to exceed 5 pages)
 If a video is also used as part of the submission packet, it cannot exceed
three minutes.
 A completed submission checklist. (1 page)
The 2014 Payments System Awards
The 2014 Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award Submission
Package Overview
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The 2014 Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award Narrative
Guidelines
The 2014 Payments System Awards
Please use the following format when crafting your narrative. Items 1 through 3
below must not exceed 10 pages.
1. Describe the leadership qualities demonstrated by the nominee in the following
three areas:
 Thought leadership: Detail how the individual or organization
differentiated itself from the competition by developing and delivering a
process or product of value to stakeholders and customers that exceeded
expectations.
 Innovation: Detail how the individual or organization applied invention,
creativity and problem‐solving skills to meet end users’ needs.
 Originality: Detail how the individual or organization applied
independent thought or constructive imagination to address industry
challenges.
Leadership Measurement
2. Analyze project leadership using recognized quality outcomes and
measurements, examples and compelling anecdotes, highlighting the areas
below:
 Provide evidence of client/customer satisfaction. A video can be used to
provide client/member/customer testimonials (not to exceed three
minutes).
 Articulate clear goals and incentives and how they were met.
 If applicable, provide metrics indicating customer adoption and
participation.
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3. Explain how this project/process advanced ACH quality in the following areas:
 The ACH Network
 Network participants
 Financial institutions
 Businesses
 Consumers
 Adoption of ACH transactions
The more criteria you are able to address, the greater your chances of becoming an
award recipient. We recognize that it may not be possible to address all of the above
criteria.
How to Submit Your Entries
Please send an electronic copy of your entry package, bundled as a PDF, to
nachacommunications@nacha.org.
The 2014 Payments System Awards
Nominee’s Impact on Specific Areas
NACHA will acknowledge receipt of your submission within 72 hours. If you do not
hear from NACHA within 72 hours, contact NACHA by phone at 703‐561‐3925 to
confirm receipt.
Due to time constraints, all entries are evaluated as submitted and will not be
returned for additional editing.
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17.
The 2014 Payments System Awards
The
PayItGreen® Award
Nomination and Submission
Guidelines
The PayItGreen Award honors individual or
organizational leadership, vision and innovation in
the education and promotion of electronic payments,
statements and bills to reduce environmental impact.
The recipient successfully demonstrates, through outreach initiatives, that the ACH
Network provides simple, safe, smart and green solutions.
The 2013 PayItGreen Award Recipient
General Electric was the recipient of the 2013 PayItGreen Award for its initiative to
reduce the company’s carbon footprint by eliminating the printing, transportation
and storage of paper through an eStatements program. GE’s going green program,
including the eStatements project, has eliminated the need for over 1,470,000 tons
of paper. The lack of storage and shipping of those documents has also decreased
GE’s carbon emissions by 2.8 million tons.
Who is Eligible for the 2014 PayItGreen Award?
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Any individual or organization that has demonstrated superior leadership in the
development, implementation or advancement of programs that promote the
positive environmental impact of choosing electronic payments, statements and bills
is eligible. There are no restrictions as to who can be nominated for this category,
other than NACHA, Regional Payments Associations and their employees are not
eligible for this award.

18.






A cover sheet that includes the organization’s name, address, contact
information and the name of the submitter, if different. If nominating an
individual, please be sure to include the individual’s name, title, organization,
address, contact information and the name of the submitter, if different. (1
page)
An executive summary that contains a brief statement of the problem or
process covered in the major document(s), background information, concise
analysis and main conclusions. It is intended as an aid to decision making by
evaluators. (1 page)
A narrative description that chronicles a program, project or marketing
campaign that results in sustained (12‐month minimum) increased adoption
of electronic payment, statements or bills, and significant environmental
impacts. If nominating an individual, the narrative should detail how this
person was instrumental in a program, project or marketing campaign that
drove this change. (not to exceed 10 pages)
Separate supporting data, statistics, survey results, customer feedback and
other related information that attests to the efficacy of the project. If
applicable, detail the goals of the project, provide a description of the old
processes and new, describe the project structure, summarize and provide
statistics on the amount of work effort, illustrate the benefits of the new
process, explain the general applicability to ACH participants, and list
transferable lessons learned. (not to exceed 5 pages)
If a video is also used as part of the submission packet, it cannot exceed
three minutes.
A completed submission checklist. (1 page)
The 2014 Payments System Awards
The 2014 PayItGreen Award Submission Package
Overview
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19.
The 2014 PayItGreen Award Narrative Guidelines
The 2014 Payments System Awards
Please use the following format when crafting your narrative. Items 1 through 10
below must not exceed 10 pages.
1. Provide a complete and well‐documented description of the individual’s
efforts or the program or process, addressing these primary areas:
a. What the individual or organization did.
b. How it was done.
c. Who was involved.
d. What the benefits were.
2. If educational information was involved, does the description clearly state
the intended audience and business goals and objectives?
3. Were the activities significant with respect to the size and type of
organization?
Green Leadership
4. Explain how the individual or program/campaign used green materials?
5. Provide supporting documentation/statistics to support the “green” claim.
6. Demonstrate how the program/campaign resulted in reduced emissions,
waste volume, energy or use of natural resources.
7. Explain how other companies experience similar benefits by implementing a
similar campaign.
8. Illustrate how the activities contributed to the cause of a larger sustainability
effort.
Leadership, Vision, Innovation
9.
Explain what role leadership, clarity of vision and innovation played in the
success of this project or program.
10. Explain how the environmental benefits were communicated to customers
and constituents. A video can be used to provide client/member/customer
testimonials (not to exceed three minutes).
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20.
The more criteria you are able to address, the greater your chances of becoming an
award recipient. We recognize that it may not be possible to address all of the above
criteria.
How to Submit Your Entries
NACHA will acknowledge receipt of your submission within 72 hours. If you do not
hear from NACHA within 72 hours, contact NACHA by phone at 703‐561‐3925 to
confirm receipt.
Due to time constraints, all entries are evaluated as submitted and will not be
returned for additional editing.
.
The 2014 Payments System Awards
Please send an electronic copy of your entry package, bundled as a PDF, to
nachacommunications@nacha.org.
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21.
NACHA Payments System
Awards Nomination Cover Sheet
Submission Instructions: Please select the one award category most appropriate for the entry. Please
submit a separate sheet for each additional entry. The review committee reserves the right to move
entries between award categories.
I nominate the individual or organization named below for the following award:
The 2014 Payments System Awards
2014 Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award
2014 George Mitchell Payments System Excellence Award
2014 PayItGreen Award
Organization:
Address:
City, State, Zip
Code:
Telephone
Number:
Fax Number:
Email Address:
If nominating an individual, please complete the highlighted areas below:
Individual’s
Name:
Individual’s Title:
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Individual’s
Project Role:
Submitter’s
Name:
Title:

22.
Organization:
Address:
City, State, Zip
Code:
Telephone
Number:
Fax Number:
Email Address:
Please submit nominations and supporting documentation to
nachacommunications@nacha.org. If necessary, please fax hard copies to 703‐561‐
0996 or mail to: Attn: 2014 Payments System Awards, NACHA—The Electronic
Payments Association, 13450 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 100, Herndon, VA 20171.
Please send notification via email to nachacommunications@nacha.org if materials
are being submitted by fax or mail to confirm their receipt. Submissions are due in
their entirety by February 28, 2014.
By submitting this information, I understand and agree that all submissions become
the property of NACHA. Further, I understand my submission may appear in whole
or in part in a NACHA and/or a Regional Payment Association communication(s). I
understand that NACHA, Regional Payments Associations and/or their employees
are not eligible for these awards.
Signature Date
The 2014 Payments System Awards
Project Role:
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NACHA Payments System
Awards Nomination Package
Checklist
Submission Components
Check and provide electronic, single‐sided copies of the following:
The 2014 Payments System Awards
Call for Nominations Submission Form (1 page)
Checklist (this page)
Executive Summary (1 page) — outlines business goals, key points and
results
Narrative (not to exceed 10 pages) — addresses points outlined in
guidelines
Supporting Documentation (not to exceed 5 samples) — details the
nominee’s achievements as outlined in the individual award requirements
and includes results‐based outcomes and supporting metrics.
Submission Review
My submission demonstrates 12 months of sustained, results‐based
outcomes.
My submission follows the guidelines, including page limits and supporting
documentation.
My submission is as targeted as possible to the award for which I am
submitting this nomination.
The supporting documentation helps the committee evaluate my
nomination using the criteria detailed in the guidelines.
Submission Details
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Please submit nominations and supporting documentation to
nachacommunications@nacha.org. If necessary, please fax hard copies to 703‐561‐
0996 or mail to: Attn: 2014 Payments System Awards, NACHA—The Electronic
Payments Association, 13450 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 100, Herndon, VA 20171.
Please send notification via email to nachacommunications@nacha.org if materials
are being submitted by fax or mail to confirm their receipt. Submissions are due in
their entirety by February 28, 2014.

24. Thank you for your
contributions to NACHA
and the ACH Network.
The 2014 Payments System Awards
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