OCA Chapter of the Year Awards

HALL OF FAME
HALL OF FAME

About COTY

The Chapter of the Year (COTY) Awards is held annually at OCA’s National Convention, honoring the hard work and dedication of OCA Chapters across the country. The 2026 COTY Awards will be held at OCA’s 2026 National Convention in Detroit, MI on Friday, July 24, 2026.

Key Dates

Nominations Open: April 25, 2026

Nomination Deadline: May 30, 2026

Voting Begins: June 9, 2026

Voting Deadline: June 30, 2026

Nomination Rules & Eligibility

  • OCA Chapters must be in good standing in the year 2025 to be considered for any and all categories. If you are unsure of your chapter’s good standing status, refer to the Chapter Good Standing 2025 Tracker. (You can find this tracker on the OCA Chapters Portal or by asking lady.m.bulilan@ocanational.org.) Chapters must be in good standing by May 30, 2026 to be eligible for the 2026 COTY Awards.

  • OCA Chapters can only nominate their own chapter in eligible categories.

  • Nominations may only be submitted by an OCA Chapter’s board member, staff member, or intern.

  • Nominations for each category must be submitted separately. It’s recommended that OCA Chapters and members coordinate with chapter leadership to delegate each category nomination submission.

  • Once nominations are submitted no revisions will be allowed.

  • To be eligible for the Chapter of the Year Award category, an OCA Chapter must nominate themself in all four (4) of the following categories:

    • Membership

    • Programs

    • Advocacy

    • Community Building

    • Project of the Year

Categories

  • OCA members are the heart, soul, and backbone of the organization. OCA’s effectiveness as a national civil rights organization greatly depends on the number of its members to ensure our capacity for advocacy readiness. To this end, each Chapter is responsible for addressing membership development strategies yearly. This award recognizes chapters that have demonstrated effective membership recruiting strategies, active engagement and communication with their members, and maintain strong membership retention.

    Eligible voting OCA Chapters will be asked to consider the following qualities when voting in this category:

    1. Membership growth rate (percentage increase from 2024 to 2025)

    2. Membership retention rate (percentage difference from 2024 to 2025)

    3. Creativity, thoughtfulness, and effectiveness of strategies to recruit, retain, and engage with chapter members.

  • OCA addresses a wide array of significant issues that affect the AANHPI community. OCA National Center heavily relies on the local OCA Chapters to work with their constituencies to further work with the issues and causes that align with OCA National priorities. This award recognizes chapters that support, improve, or engage their local communities; establish strategic partnerships; and develop leadership, professional, cultural, advocacy skills, and knowledge in the AANHPI community.

    Eligible voting OCA Chapters will be asked to consider the following qualities when voting in this category:

    1. Diversity of programs (leadership development, professional development, advocacy, cultural)
    2. Engagement with OCA National programs and events
    3. Creativity of programs/projects
    4. Quality of programs/projects
    5. Strategic partnerships

  • OCA’s mission is dedicated to advancing the sociopolitical and holistic well-being of all Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in the United States. One of OCA's many critical goals is dedicated to its Chapters leading advocacy efforts for social justice, equal opportunity and fair treatment. This award recognizes chapters that have participated in significant grassroots and national policy advocacy activities; engaged with OCA’s national and state policy priorities; and built coalitions around issues impacting the AANHPI community.

    Eligible voting OCA Chapters will be asked to consider the following qualities when voting in this category:

    1. Quality of local advocacy efforts
    2. Quality of national advocacy efforts
    3. Level of engagement with OCA’s national and state policy priorities
    4. Level of engagement with OCA National’s call-to-actions/campaigns
    5. Community impact

  • The strength of OCA lies in its network of Chapters. Chapters are in a position to enhance and further OCA’s reputation through community-based advocacy at the local level. Strengthening the Chapter’s local community through direct engagement is a recognized integral component of the OCA experience. This award recognizes chapters that have fostered unity; demonstrated cross-cultural understanding and collaboration with non-AANHPI communities and/or organizations; collaboration and/or provided mentorship with fellow OCA Chapters; participated in AANHPI heritage/cultural activities; and demonstrated meaningful outreach, networking, and support of other AANHPI organizations.

    Eligible voting OCA Chapters will be asked to consider the following qualities when voting in this category:

    1. Quality of collaboration with other AANHPI communities/groups
    2. Quality of collaboration with non-AANHPI communities/groups
    3. Quality of collaboration with other OCA Chapters
    4. Community impact

  • OCA’s chapters are diverse and unique. Every chapter has established themselves in their communities and created events, programs, and projects that directly benefit their own community members. This award recognizes chapters that have run thoughtful, creative, unique, and effective programs and projects that set them apart from other chapters. Each OCA Chapter may nominate only 1 of their own programs/projects that took place in 2025. Programs/projects that have received 1st place in this category within the last 3 award years are ineligible for this award.

    Eligible voting OCA Chapters will be asked to consider the following qualities when voting in this category:

    1. How long the program/project been around (whether the program/project is new, or a longstanding one)

    2. Creativity or uniqueness of the program/project

    3. Quality of program/project

    4. Community impact

  • This award recognizes OCA Chapters with the most well-rounded activities and achievements. Recipients of this award will be determined based on the quality of their nominations in the other COTY categories. To be eligible for this award, the OCA Chapter must nominate themselves in all four of the following COTY categories: Membership, Programs, Advocacy, and Community Building.

Voting Procedures

  • All OCA Chapters in good standing in 2025 are eligible to vote in any and all of the following categories: Membership, Programs, Advocacy, and Community Building by May 30, 2026 (same as the Nomination Submission Deadline).

  • In each eligible category, OCA Chapters will vote for three (3) nominees they feel most deserve recognition in that category. OCA Chapters cannot vote for their own chapter in any category. The top three (3) vote getters of each category will be recognized with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards.

  • If a category only receives votes from five or less OCA Chapters, those votes will not count and that category will therefore be voted on and determined by the COTY Review Committee.

  • The Chapter of the Year category will be determined by the total votes each chapter receives across all four (4) of the following categories: Membership, Programs, Advocacy, and Community Building.

  • The COTY Review Committee will be deciding who wins Project of the Year.

  • If there are any ties in any category, the COTY Review Committee will be the tie-breaking vote. Any committee member who is associated with a chapter in the tie must recuse themself and cannot participate in the tie-breaking vote.

2027 COTY Awards

Starting with the 2027 COTY Awards, which recognizes accomplishments by OCA chapters in the 2026 calendar year, the following changes will be enacted:

  • The “Membership” and “Community Building” categories will be combined into one category: “Membership & Community Building”

  • “Web Presence” will be a new category:

    • Description: In the modern age, advocacy is as present online as it is in person. It is important for chapters to be able to promote their activities, and engage with members and non-members, through digital means. This award recognizes chapters that have demonstrated professional, strategic, active, and effective online communication and presence.

    • Qualities to consider when voting:

      • Diversity of social media and web platforms the chapter is present on

      • Quality of the chapter’s content on social media/web platforms

      • The level of the chapter’s activity on social media/web platforms

      • Quality and quantity of statements/press releases, newsletters, and emails to the chapter’s members and community

  • “Multimedia Production” will be a new category:

    • Description: A chapter’s visual identity and branding is important to draw in community members. And capturing the chapter’s activities and history through photographic and video means is important in documenting its history. This award recognizes chapters that have created intentional, strategic, and visually-appealing content via graphic design, photography, and/or videography.

    • Qualities to consider when voting:

      • Quality of the chapter’s original digital and/or physical designs (no generative-A.I. allowed)

      • Quality of the chapter’s photographic content

      • Quality of the chapter’s video content

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Contact OCA’s Chapter and Membership Development Manager Lady Marie Bulilan at lady.m.bulilan@ocanational.org.

  • We have been asked about the COTY Review Committee in the past by many chapters so we decided to democratize the COTY Awards and give more power transparency to you all in this voting process. We wanted more voices represented and for chapters to recognize their peers.

  • This is entirely up to your OCA Chapter. You can go through each category with your board members and discuss which 3 nominees per category your chapter wants to vote for. Or you can have your board members vote internally to decide which 3 nominees per category to vote for. Or any other method. No matter which method you choose, your OCA Chapter as a whole can only vote one time per category.

  • That’s totally fine. You don’t have to vote, but know you have the power to.

  • Lady Marie Bulilan, Emilio Manuel Camu, Daniel Hoddinott, Siddarth Sharma, and Kent Tong.

  • In the case of a tie, the COTY Review Committee will be the tie-breaking vote. Ranked-choice voting will be used, in which each committee member will rank the tied finalists in order of preference (1 being their top choice, 2 being their second choice, etc.).

    The nominee that gets 50 percent or more of the votes is the winner of the tie-breaker. If one nominee doesn't get 50 percent out of the gate, the one with the fewest votes is eliminated, and the members who voted for that as their top choice have their votes added to the nominee that was next on their list.

    What happens if their second choice was the one that was eliminated? Well, their votes then go to their third choice, and so on. That process continues until one nominee gets 50 percent or more of all the votes.

    Any committee member who is associated with a chapter in the tie must recuse themself and cannot participate in the tie-breaking vote.

  • This makes the nomination form shorter and less intimidating. It allows OCA Chapters to delegate categories to different chapter members, spreading out the workload. And it makes it easier for the COTY Review Committee to organize the nominations as well as easier for OCA Chapters to review nomination materials.

  • You will still be able to. Each category has several prompts (each with word count limits) asking you to expand on a specific area. But we have word count limits to make it easier for OCA Chapters to review nomination materials.

  • Since each OCA Chapter’s Project of the Year nomination would likely already be mentioned in their respective nominations in the Programs and Project category, it would be redundant.

Questions?

If you have any questions please contact Lady Marie Bulilan at lady.m.bulilan@ocanational.org.