The Shirley T. Herald Lifetime Achievement Award

The Award Nomination Form can be found at the bottom of this webpage. 

History of the Shirley T. Herald Lifetime Achievement Award

This Arkansas Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (ARID) award honors an interpreter whose talent, efforts, and body of work has, in a fundamental way, advanced the field of interpreting; whose accomplishments have been acknowledged by professional peers and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community; and whose work has and will continue to have a lasting influence on interpreters, the profession, and society. The Shirley T. Herald Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes outstanding interpreters whose pioneering spirit, excellent work, and unswerving dedication to the field of interpretation throughout their career has improved society and inspired others.

Contributions to Society

This award was initiated by the ARID Board of Directors and established by the membership during the 2006 25th-Gala Anniversary Celebration of ARID. The first recipient, Shirley T. Herald, was honored for her lifetime of interpreting and her many years of service as Arkansas’ Court Interpreter. Shirley has served on both the RID and the ARID Board of Directors as well as numerous local, state, and national committees. She was instrumental in test development for both RID, and the Mid-America Quality Assurance Screening Test. Shirley is well known for her legal workshops and mentoring of interpreting students. The ARID Membership, with great love and devotion, named this award for Shirley T. Herald on June 24, 2006.

Selection Process

Nominations will be accepted by the ARID Board and open until the second month (April 1st) prior to the biennial conference. At that point, the ARID President will select an ad hoc committee to review the nomination(s). The composition of the ad hoc committee will consist of five individuals:

• • • • Three interpreters who are ARID voting members
      • One ARID member who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing
      • One consumer of interpreting services from the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community

The ad hoc committee will review the nomination(s) and submit their recommendation by May 10th to support or not to support the recipient(s). The ARID Board will review the ad hoc committee’s recommendation and ratify the recommendation, and if a recipient is chosen, the recipient will be honored during the upcoming biennial conference.

Former Recipients:

• 2006 – Shirley T. Herald
• 2015 – Myra Taff-Watson
• 2019 – Zania Musteen
• 2021 – LInda Stauffer
• 2023 – Ray James