The national W. Van Alan Clark, Jr. Trophy will be awarded by US SAILING based on the nomination submitted by you and other member organizations, classes and sailing associations and on the reasons that accompany those nominations.

Examples of Past Nominations:
     - 1996 Winning Nomination of Dick Besse
     - 2001 Winning Nomination of George Fisher

     The more neat, specific and complete you can make your nomination, the more helpful it will be. Sportsmanship means different things to different people. You should feel free to define "sportsmanship" in a way that best suits your organization’s own programs and goals. As a thought-starter about sportsmanship and what makes a good candidate for the National Award, I was reminded of Alistair Cooke's description of a famous golfer:

"Once, in a national championship, Robert Tyre Jones, Jr., a weekend golfer but the best golfer of his time, drove his ball into the woods.  He went after it alone, and, in standing to the ball, he barely touched it.  He came out of the woods, signaled his fault, penalized himself one stroke and by one stroke lost the championship.  When he was praised for this and similar acts of sportsmanship, he was genuinely disgusted.  "You might as well," he said, "praise a main for not robbing a bank."
                                 -- Alistair Cooke "America", Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1974 (page 322)

As a general guideline, you may well consider nominating a sailor, regardless of age or sex, who has best exemplified fine sportsmanship in your organization during the past year. Your nominee’s contribution may have been a single exemplary act. On the other hand, it may have been more gradual, through consistent example on as well as off the water, through instruction and encouragement of others, or anything else that best exemplifies the finest traditions of our sport.