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Do a finalist place or a nomination count?

Key answer

Being selected among many candidates is itself an achievement that members submit as an award without stressing the performance; a final or an honorable mention at a prestigious contest also counts, but strong wins go into the awards criterion and the rest into the story or other criteria. Awards are split by meaning: the most important into the awards criterion, patent-related into contribution, those won by the company thanks to you into the leading role. In RFEs USCIS asks to prove the fact of receiving the award: an official letter or publications matter more than cups and certificates.

Community answers

The answers below are translated from the original Russian - the language of the community chats.

  • Theoretically, the award is the mere fact of selection, and participation would relate to exhibitions. Or, for example, being a second or backup finalist in the selection is still an achievement. You shouldn't focus attention on the performance but limit it to having passed the selection.

  • We were told this: we didn't include all awards indiscriminately but divided them. The most important ones went into awards, those related to patents went into contributions, and those received by the company thanks to us went into leading roles. We only used references to them in the relevant criteria, although we stated that the described awards in a certain criterion support our claims.

  • If you can prove that it meets the criterion, do so. If it is neither national nor international level, but is significant in your topic, add it to the overall narrative about yourself. You need to prove everything you wrote, even if it's not a criterion but just a description of work experience: like, I worked at such-and-such club - an exhibit with a description of the club. Otherwise, everything is just words.

  • It is important, and they note this in the RFE, that you must submit proof of receiving the award. If it includes an official letter or newspaper publications, that is already very good. Trophies and certificates are good, but they are not among the mandatory requirements.

  • If we take it as an award, you need to look at how many applicants there were, and it's unclear whether an honorable mention counts among the finalists. If considered as an exhibition, having the finalist exhibition in the pages of the magazine and on the award's website sounds good, while an honorable mention on social media is not as impressive. In any case, it is essential that all significant criteria fit: independent media about the contest, the number of participants, territorial coverage.

The answers are anonymized community experience from the public chats, not legal advice. Officers may decide similar cases differently.

Why "Awards" gets refused

Accepted in 14% of challenged petitions (25 of 184); not an approval rate.

The award’s field does not match the field you are filing in, or is worded so that the link is not obvious.

All refusal grounds and the sample

Sources

All questions on: AwardsAll questions on: EB-1AAll questions on: O-1 visaAll questions on: The petition and formatting

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A reference page built from community experience, not legal advice. Requirements and practice change - verify on uscis.gov.

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