The NVPS organization can only function because of the dedicated service of the members serving in elected and appointed positions. In an attempt to provide some recognition to these deserving individuals, NVPS has established the Joe Atchison Service Award. It was established in memory of Dr. Joe Atchison and for his many years of service to the club. This is the highest award given by NVPS to any member.
 
The first recipient was Dave Carter in June 1998. Other recipients have been Erwin Siegel, Greg Gregory, Ed Funk, Joe Miller, Andy Klein, and Sherwin Kaplan.
The recipient for the award is selected from those individuals nominated by club members. Criteria for the award include: Length of service to the club, and functioning as a role model and an inspiration to other members over the years.
 
The nominations are confidential and the selection is made by a panel of past presidents of NVPS.  This year that panel was comprised of 3 past presidents all previous recipients of the award.  I would like to thank them for participating in this process and selecting a recipient this year.  The 3 past presidents and previous recipients were Andy Kline, Sherwin Kaplan and Erwin Siegel.
 
The selection of a recipient of this award is optional and only is presented when a nominee meets the criteria of the award.  Nominees of the award are strictly confidential.
 
Bill Prosser has been the Chairperson for Workshops Education and Training at NVPS along with Minnie Gallman for the past two years and I believe we will be lucky enough to have him serving in this position again next year.
 
Bill was instrumental in bringing Workshops Education and Training to the Fire Station and established it as a regularly scheduled monthly meeting.  He's arranged quality monthly content such as critiques in support of the themed competitions.  While the monthly meeting increased in popularity he's found away to still keep the personal hands on interaction of the small groups through the break-out groups and taking advantage of senior members skills and willingness to help.  Bill encouraged and supported comprehensive coordination of workshops education and training with other major club activities such as fieldtrips, programs and forums. One of the most significant contributions Bill has made was the introduction of a novice night which helped us refocus our efforts at NVPS to address the needs of new members and novice photographers.  Coincidentally many of the experienced photographers also benefited from this feature.
 
Bill also severed as the VP of Programs during 2 different years, as the VP of Competition & served on multiple competition rules change committees. He served as the Digital Mentor as part of the NVPS Mentor program and was an early advocate of digital photography as an alternative to film and the chemical darkroom.  He and other like-minded club members advocated that it is not the process by which an image is made, but the photographer skill-level and end product by which an image should be categorized and judged. (This point of view was very revolutionary in the early 1990's)
 
He presented several NVPS Forums and programs for other clubs on visual design, digital processing of images, and planning photography trips. He's very proud to have completed Joe Miller's Judging Training and has judged four club competitions.
 
Outside of NVPS Bill has also supported the photographic community in generally with his participation in the McLean Photography Club of which he is a founding member and a member for 30 years.
 
He's taught classes at the McLean Community center, as a volunteer at McLean High School and various other educational environments.  Bill has also been acknowledged for the generosity of his time by the Dept. of Health and Human Services National Volunteer of the Year award for his work in Fairfax County with youth soccer (as coach and organization board officer), runaway youth and foster children (councilor and board member), and camera club board work.
 
Scott Musson
Past President of NVPS