Imagine Excellence: The GWS Awards Program

Imagine Excellence, the GWS Awards Program, recognizes outstanding accomplishments in fields associated with research in, administration and management of, and communication about parks, other kinds of protected areas, cultural sites, and related supporting activities.

The five main awards are given every two years at the GWS conferences. In addition, a Special Achievement Award may be bestowed from time to time by the GWS Board of Directors.

The next round of awards will be presented in March 2013 at the Awards Banquet during the next George Wright Society Conference on Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites in New Orleans.  (The banquet is jointly sponsored by the  the National Park Service, and the agency's top awards in natural and cultural resource and wilderness stewardship will be presented there as well.)

The GWS awards consist of a plaque, payment of the winner’s expenses to travel to the GWS conference, and a year’s complimentary membership in the Society.  Peer recognition is high and competition for the awards can be keen.

The awards are:

• The George Melendez Wright Award for Excellence, given in recognition of lifetime contributions on behalf of the Society or in furtherance of its purposes. This is the Society's highest award, and it is reserved for exceptional achievements in any of the areas with which the GWS is concerned. It is a top-of-career award.
• The GWS Cultural Resource Achievement Award, given in recognition of excellence in research, management, or education related to the cultural resources of parks, cultural and historic sites, reserves, and other protected areas. This award is generally aimed at mid-career to senior-level accomplishments.
• The GWS Natural Resource Achievement Award, given in recognition of excellence in research, management, or education related to the natural resources of parks, reserves, and other protected areas. This award is generally aimed at mid-career to senior-level accomplishments.
• The GWS Social Science Achievement Award, given in recognition of excellence in social science research, management, or education related to parks, reserves, and other protected areas. This award is generally aimed at mid-career to senior-level accomplishments.
• The GWS Communication Award, given in recognition of excellence in communication, interpretation, or related areas pertaining to the purposes of the Society. This award is given specifically to recognize outstanding efforts in communicating highly technical or controversial park-related subjects to the public in a clear and understandable manner.

Applications for the next (2013) round of awards will be accepted beginning in the summer of 2012.  Please note: nominations for GWS Awards must come from current GWS members, though the person being nominated need not be a GWS member.

2011 Awardees

• The 2011 George Melendez Wright Award for Excellence, the Society’s highest honor, was given to Richard West Sellars. He was cited for his lifelong contributions to historic preservation and other forms of cultural resource management, and for his seminal book, Preserving Nature in the National Parks: A History, which has transformed natural resource research and management in the National Park Service.
• The 2011 GWS Cultural Resource Achievement Award was given to Ernie Gladstone of Parks Canada for his pathbreaking leadership in integrating Native science and worldviews into the management of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, of which he is superintendent.
• The 2011 GWS Natural Resource Achievement Award was bestowed on David N. Cole of the USFS Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute for more than three decades of pioneering practical and applied research in recreation ecology and wilderness management.
• The 2011 GWS Communication Award was given to Paul Schullery, who was recognized for his career of distinguished publications in conservation history and the natural history of the Greater Yellowstone Area.

You can download a PDF of the 2011 awards banquet program containing full citations of these awards, as well as those of the NPS Director's Awards for natural resources, cultural resources, and wilderness.

Past Winners

2009 Awardees

• The 2009 George Melendez Wright Award for Excellence, the Society’s highest honor, went to Michael Soukup. He was cited for his distinguished and sustained achievements in bolstering science within NPS, including his leadership in resource inventories and monitoring, exotic plant management, Research Learning Centers, CESUs, and, of course, the Natural Resource Challenge.
• The 2009 GWS Cultural Resource Achievement Award was given to Edwin Colón, who leads preservation/masonry crew at San Juan National Historic Site's Lime Laboratory and Workshop. Colón was recognized for helping make the crew the leaders in the field of traditional lime masonry, whose knowledge and skills are requested locally, nationally, and internationally.
• The 2009 GWS Natural Resource Achievement Award went to Kate Roney Faulkner of Channel Islands National Park. Faulkner was cited for her leadership, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, to ecologically restore Santa Cruz Island at Channel Islands National Park.
• The inaugural GWS Social Science Achievement Award went to Robert Manning of the University of Vermont. Manning was honored for his wide-ranging leadership in recreation studies in national parks and other protected areas, and for his distinguished teaching in the resource social sciences.
• The 2009 GWS Communication Award was received by Channel Islands' chief of interpretation, Yvonne Menard. She was recognized for her leadership in designing a public communications strategy to explain the complex issues surrounding ecological restoration within Channel Islands National Park.

You can download a PDF of the 2009 awards banquet program containing full citations of these awards, as well as those of the 2008 NPS Director's Awards for Natural Resources — all were given at a joint NPS/GWS Awards Banquet at the 2009 conference.