Call for Nominations for OALA Awards 2010

OALA members are invited to nominate deserving fellow members and others for awards and honours, to be presented in 2010. There are six awards to be considered.  Kindly submit your nominations or suggestions to the OALA office, addressed to the Honours Awards and Protocol Committee, chaired by the immediate Past President, Arnis Budrevics. The committee will then forward its recommendations to Council.

Nomination deadline – April 30, 2010.  

The six awards are:

1. Pinnacle Award for Landscape Architectural Excellence
2. David Erb Memorial Award
3. Ontario Association of Landscape Architects' Award for Service to the Environment
4. Ontario Association of Landscape Architects' Carl Borgstrom Award for Service to the Environment
5. Public Practice Award
6. Emeritus and Honorary Members

1)  Pinnacle Award for Landscape Architectural Excellence – established in 2002 – honouring the professional skills of Ontario landscape architects.

This award recognizes an OALA member and his or her professional work.  The recipient will be selected by the OALA Honours and Awards Committee and recommended to Council for approval.  One award will be given annually.  The purpose of the award is:

·         to acknowledge excellence in works by Ontario landscape architects which might not otherwise be recognized through self-nomination awards programs

·         to promote awareness of these landscape architectural works among landscape architects, allied professionals, potential clients, and the general public

OALA members practicing in Ontario, elsewhere in Canada and around the world will be considered, although emphasis will be given to members practicing in Ontario and works executed in Ontario.  The award will single out a specific project to draw attention to a body of work which demonstrates outstanding professional accomplishment in:

·         Design – newly constructed, or renovated sites of specific works of landscape architectural design including residential, urban, commercial, industrial or institutional design, parks and recreational facilities, historic preservation and restoration, transportation, landscape conservation and reclamation, landscape as an art form, among others.

·         Planning and Analyis – urban, community and regional planning involving various landscape analysis activities such as environmental assessments, suitability studies, natural and visual resource inventories, and post-construction evaluations.

·         Research – original studies, theses or reports which give evidence of a thorough examination of a problem, using analytical methods which support original findings, and/or solutions which are of value to the profession.

·         Communication – written or published documents and audio/visual presentation materials intended for use within and/or outside the profession (technical booklets, publications or films related to landscape architectural history, or art and plant material catalogues).

·         Non-traditional areas of practice – un-built commissions, project management (e.g. events), innovation/leading edge projects prepared for and accepted by a client.

The award recipient will be asked to assist the OALA and its Honours and Awards committee with materials they have available (display boards, slides, models, etc.) which will be required to appropriately document and publicize the award.

The Pinnacle Award for Landscape Architectural Excellence was awarded to Janet Rosenberg in 2003, Thomas Sparling in 2004, James Taylor in 2005, Dan Euser in 2006, Michael Hough in 2007, Robert Allsopp in 2008, and Gerald Lajeunesse in 2009.

2) The David Erb Memorial Award – established in 1992

This prestigious award was established to recognize an OALA member who has made an exemplary voluntary contribution to the work of the Association. David Erb was himself an outstanding volunteer in furthering the goals of OALA and his example set a truly high standard. 

Previous recipients of the David Erb Award are: Mark Inglis, David Anselmi, Ken Hoyle, Rob Norman, Ann Milovsoroff, Mary Faught, Frank Basciano, Eha Naylor, Don Naylor, Seeta Nyary, Stephen O'Bright, Ed Fife, Jane Darragh, Nelson Edwards, Mary-Ellen Brennan, David Leinster, Tom Ridout and Jane Welsh.

For details on evaluation and eligibility criteria and nomination procedures consult the OALA membership Handbook.  This award is the best way to acknowledge the one outstanding OALA member each year whose volunteer contributions over a number of years have made a real difference.

3) The Ontario Association of Landscape Architect's Award for Service to the Environment - established in 1995

• This award will be given to a non-landscape architectural individual, group, organization, or agency to recognize and encourage a special or unusual contribution to the sensitive, sustainable design for human use of the environment.

• The contribution will have made local, regional, or provincial impact through policy, planning or design, or as an implemented project.

• The award is intended as a public outreach and encouragement.  This does not preclude an organization which includes landscape architects in its membership but the emphasis is on the public aspect.

• The nominator shall be a member of OALA in any of the categories of membership.

• The work to be honoured should be located within the province of Ontario.

• The criteria are that:

ü  the contribution emulates the fundamental principles of OALA and the OALA Mission Statement

ü  the contribution goes beyond the normal levels of community action in preserving, protecting or improving the environment.

Previous winners of the OALA Service to the Environment Award are: Friends of the Spit; The Evergreen Foundation; Humber Watershed Task Force; the National Capital Commission; The Task Force to Bring Back the Don, The Don Watershed Regeneration Council; STORM, Save the Oak Ridges Moraine Coalition; The Friends of Fort York; Greg Allen of Sustainable Edge Inc.; The Grand River Conservation Authority, and TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, Ontario Chapter Friends of Maplelawn Garden, Ottawa Botanical Gardens, City of Waterloo and Toronto Parks and Trees Foundation.

Certificates of Merit for Service to the Environment have previously been awarded to: Union Gas Customer Service Centre, Brantford; Royal Botanical Gardens & Glynis Logue – Hickory Valley Habitat Creation Project; Broadacres Naturalization Project Committee of Etobicoke; The Town of Markham T.E.A.M. Project; ECOS - Environment Committee of South Ottawa; Dreamacres Committee & Community at Large – Sunningdale School Naturalization Project; The Rotary Club of Whitby; Fletcher Wildlife Garden, Ottawa and the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve, City of Kitchener and KARA - Kleinburg and Area Ratepayers Association for their Kleinburg New Forest / Forster Woods Project.

4) The Ontario Association of Landscape Architects' Carl Borgstrom Award for Service to the Environment - established in 1995

The use of the name of a founding member for this award is intended to keep alive the links with our past for members of OALA.  Carl Borgstrom, of all the founders, was the most actively in tune with the natural landscape.  His work included the original handsome planting of groups of trees along the old QEW that incorporated both native and ornamental specimens.  He also did the original design for the Oakes Garden Theatre at Niagara Falls - a strong, much simpler, much more naturalistic design than the Dunington-Grubb design that was subsequently installed.

• This award will be given to an individual landscape architect, or landscape architectural group, organization, or agency (as recognized by the OALA) to recognize and encourage a special or unusual contribution to the sensitive, sustainable design for human use of the environment.

• The award is intended to publicly recognize and encourage landscape architects who design in an environmentally sensitive and sustainable manner.  Ecologically sound design does not preclude aesthetically beautiful work, nor vice versa, and this award is intended to recognize such works.

• The nominator may be a member of OALA in any of the categories of membership, a client, or member of the public.

• The work to be honoured should be located within the province of Ontario.

The two awards above could be given as a pair for a project, but it is more likely that they would be given separately, and not necessarily both in the same year.

Previous Carl Borgstrom Service to the Environment Award winners are:  Michael Hough, Garth Armour – Metro Parkland Naturalization Compendium; Gabe D'Aoust (Landscape Planning Limited) – Langstaff Eco Park; Michael J. Hensel – The Brant Prairie, Union Gas Customer Service Centre; R. Mark Schollen, Schollen & Company; Ruedi Hofer, PMA Landscape Architects; Kenneth Hoyle and Glen Harrington, Harrington and Hoyle;  Karen Boniface, Town of Markhamp; Carolyn Woodland, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority; Michael Hubicki, TSH Associates and Jean-Marc Daigle, Ecological Outlook Consulting; Julie Mulligan; and Marc Willoughby. 

5) Public Practice Award, established in 2000

This award recognizes the outstanding leadership of a member of the profession in public practice who promotes and enhances landscape architecture by working for improved understanding and appreciation of the work of landscape architects in both public and private practice.  Nominators should submit their suggestions in the form of a letter substantiating why they believe their nominee is deserving of this award. 

Previous winners of the Public Practice Award are: Domenic Lunardo, City of Vaughan; Wayne Nishihama, City of Mississauga; Ann Milovsoroff, The Royal Botanical Gardens; Robert Norman, City of Hamilton;  Brian Page, City of Kitchener; Gerald Lajeunesse, the National Capital Commission; Bruce Henry, City of London, Susan Fisher, Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation, and John Zvonar, Heritage Secretariat, Public Works, Canada, Linda Dicaire, Eric Pedersen, Ross Stephen, and Elyse Parker.

6) Emeritus & Honorary Members

The OALA By-Laws provide for Honorary and Emeritus categories of membership, Honorary members being non-landscape architects appointed by Council.  Emeritus members are full members of OALA who have ceased full time practice and who are nominated by another full member (refer to the OALA Handbook for definitions).  Procedures for nominating individuals are also outlined in the OALA Members' Handbook.