Applications open for GWS Awards, GMW Travel Scholarships, Native Participant Travel Grants

Do you have a colleague whose work on behalf of parks, protected areas, and cultural sites is worthy of national recognition?  If so, please consider nominating her or him for a 2013 George Wright Society Award.

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.  There are five awards, given every two years at the GWS conferences:

>> The George Melendez Wright Award for Excellence (the Society's highest award)
>> The GWS Cultural Resource Achievement Award
>> The GWS Natural Resource Achievement Award
>> The GWS Social Science Achievement Award
>> The GWS Communication Award

The next round of awards will be presented on March 14, 2013, at the Awards Banquet during the next George Wright Society Conference on Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites in Denver.  (The banquet is jointly sponsored by the  the National Park Service, and the agency's top awards in natural resource, 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. For a complete description of the five GWS awards, and a link to the on-line nomination form, go to:

http://www.georgewright.org/awards

The deadline for nominations is October 26.  Please note: nominations for the awards must come from GWS members in good standing.  The nominees do not have to be GWS members, however.

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We are also now accepting applications for our two travel grant programs, which aim to diversify our professional community by encouraging attendance at the GWS conference by people from under-represented groups:

>> The George Melendez Wright Student Travel Scholarship is targeted toward minority students.
>> The Native Participant Travel Grant Program is aimed at Indigenous people from Canada, USA, and Mexico.

These programs are generously underwritten by the US National Park Service and other funders.  For more information, go to the GWS2013 website, http://www.georgewright.org/gws2013, and follow the links in the righthand column.  The deadline to apply to either of these travel grant programs is December 1.