If you’ve made an exceptional contribution to one or more of your work term employers in 2023, you could be eligible for a 2023 Co-op Student of the Year Award (ceremony held in 2024). You must be currently registered as a Waterloo undergraduate or graduate student.
Questions? Contact the Co-op Student Experience team.
Every year, one student from each faculty is presented with a Co-op Student of the Year Award for making exceptional contributions to their employer on one or more of their work terms. These awards take place towards the end of the winter term and celebrate student achievements from the winter, spring and fall terms of the previous calendar year.
About Co-op Student of the Year Awards
How to be considered for the Waterloo Award
Here’s what we need to receive from you:
All nominations are completed through one form which you are responsible for submitting. In this form, we require your contact information, your employer’s contact information and these three uploaded documents:
- Up-to-date résumé (this must include your most current unofficial Waterloo transcript and WaterlooWorks work history).
- Personal statement (1-2 pages, single-spaced, maximum length of 900 words)
- Explain why you should win the Co-op Student of the Year Award (include how you performed above and beyond your employer's expectations and your job description).
- Format the statement so that each of the judging criteria (see below) is addressed under its own heading.
- Translate technical information into language that anyone can understand. People without knowledge of your background may be reviewing the statement. They should be able to appreciate the meaning and significance of your accomplishments in order to make a fair assessment.
- Supporting statement (up to one page, maximum length of 500 words) from one or more of your co-op employers from within the same calendar year as your submission describing:
- Your duties/responsibilities.
- Your impact on the workplace.
- Outstanding work achievements (cost savings, process/quality improvements, design/development innovations, improved customer service, significant research or other initiatives, etc.).
- Duties or opportunities that were assigned to you in addition to typical work responsibilities because you performed above expectations.
Once you have submitted your application, your employer will be notified through the email submitted in the nomination form. You will also receive a receipt of your submission for your records.
We will contact all students and employers who submitted nomination forms regardless of whether they were selected as winners (usually sometime in January of the following year).
Conditions:
- Please submit only the documents requested above.
- Only nominees with completed application packages will be considered for the award.
- You, as the applicant, must agree to allow Co-operative Education to use your name, profile, and photograph for publication and promotional purposes.
Due dates for nominations
Nomination due dates for Waterloo's 2023 Co-op Student of the Year Awards
| Winter 2023 work term nomination due date | July 21, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Spring 2023 work term nomination due date | November 11, 2023 |
| Fall 2023 work term nomination due date | January 2, 2024 |
Criteria and scoring for the Waterloo Award
- Impact on employer (30 pts) includes:
- Outstanding work achievements above and beyond the job description (cost savings, process/quality improvements, design/development innovations, improved customer service, significant research or other initiatives, etc.).
- Duties or opportunities that were assigned to you in addition to typical work responsibilities because you performed above your employer's expectations.
- Evaluations received from your employer should ideally include an outstanding for at least one work term in the award year and at least excellent in other work terms of the award year.
- Impact on self (30 pts) includes:
- Reasons why you participated in co-op and why you are happy you did.
- How co-operative education has enhanced your personal, academic, and career development.
- The impact your co-operative education experience has had on your understanding of your program of study.
- How co-operative education has improved your confidence as a developing professional and motivated you further.
- Impact on institution (30 pts) includes:
- How you've helped promote co-operative education to peers or academic units.
- Examples of how you've helped other students succeed in co-op.
- Examples of how you've used workplace learning or professional connections to enrich learning back on campus.
- Academic achievements - minimum 75 per cent overall average (10 pts).
- Note: Your academic standing is only ONE of the criteria we consider when assessing your application package, and it only accounts for a small part of your overall score. Even if you don’t have a minimum 75 per cent average, we still encourage you to apply for the award. Feel free to provide additional details in your supporting statement and focus on your involvement and success throughout your co-op work terms instead.
A group of Co-operative Education staff, co-op students and a WUSA executive member review the applications for the award and select a recipient from each faculty. If an insufficient number of applicants are received from any faculty, or if applicants aren’t suitable, no prize will be awarded to a student from that faculty.
Please note that all decisions made by the selection committee are considered final and may not be appealed.
When you can expect to hear back
All nominees and employers will be notified by the end of January. We will contact all students and employers who submitted nomination forms regardless of whether they were selected as winners.
Provincial and National Co-op Student of the Year Awards
Waterloo Co-op Student of the Year Award winners may be nominated by the decision committee for the following awards:
CEWIL Student of the Year Award
The recipient of the Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning (CEWIL) Student of the Year Award is chosen from post-secondary co-op students nation-wide based on their standing in the following areas:
- Workplace achievements (including mostly Outstanding ratings on work term evaluations)
- Academic achievements (80 per cent average or above)
- Contribution to the community and extra-curricular activity
- Contribution to co-operative education
Nominees are selected and submitted to CEWIL Canada by the student's school. The recipient of the CEWIL award will be presented with $1,500 CAD and will receive national recognition. For more information about this award, please visit the CEWIL Canada Website.
EWO Co-op Student of the Year Award
The recipient of the Experiential & Work-Integrated Learning Ontario (EWO) Co-op Student of the Year Award is chosen from post-secondary co-op students attending Ontario universities based on the same criteria as the CEWIL Canada award. The recipient of the EWO award will be presented with a certificate and $750 CAD.
Nominees are selected and submitted to EWO by the student's school. For more information about the award, please visit the EWO website.
What will the award recipients receive?
Award recipients will:
- Receive a $500 CAD award on your Quest account.
- Receive a framed recognition plaque.
- Have a professional photograph taken, which will appear with an article about your award and will be presented in various university publications.
- Names of the year's recipients of the award will be displayed on a plaque and mounted on the award wall on the main floor of the Tatham Centre.
- Two names chosen by the selection committee from the recipients of the Waterloo award will be submitted to the Experiential & Work-Integrated Learning Ontario (EWO) and Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning (CEWIL) Canada's Co-op Student of the Year Awards.
