The National Genealogical Society (NGS) is a nonprofit organization devoted to genealogical education, and as such, its awards are designed to reflect that purpose. To this end, the “Award for Excellence: Genealogy and Family History Book” and the “Award of Excellence: Genealogical Resources” recognize books that exemplify the high standards of research, documentation, and presentation NGS promotes. A committee conducts in-depth reviews of submissions analyzing how well they meet the standards listed below.. The committee members rely on their extensive knowledge of genealogical publications from their many years of involvement with publishing, librarianship, or related experience. Their decisions are passed on to the awards chair for presentation to the NGS Board for final approval.

An award winner is an author whose work can serve as a model for other genealogists who are writing a family history or a genealogical research guide. A winning publication would

• be well-written;
• be thoroughly researched noting historical and recent genealogical literature;
• use a good mix of primary and secondary sources;
• be carefully documented, and contain citations to sources of information [Citations must be in footnotes or endnotes composed in an established manner using standard style manuals such as theChicago Manual of Style, Turabian, etc. Incomplete or slight citations are a major negative. Citations should not be in the body of the text as some professions require.];
• have a table of contents;
• have an index;
• use a recognizable and explained genealogical layout and an established genealogical numbering system (as presented in leading genealogical journals such as the National Genealogical Society Quarterly);
• explain any abbreviations used in the text and footnotes/endnotes;
• include genealogical charts with succinct information on each person;
• and contain illustrations such as family photographs and images of documents, maps, gravestones, and similar items to compliment the text.

In addition, the general usefulness to researchers of a publication is an overall criterion.

History publications will be considered if they include substantial genealogical content, and if that content meets genealogical standards.

The committee may not always give an award in every category if the judges do not consider the submitted books to be acceptable of consideration. There may, however, be first- and second-place awards in each category if there are sufficient submissions that qualify.

Multi-volume sets that are published over a period of years will be considered for an award for the most recent year of publication if it is within the three-year guideline for submissions.