2014 Awards Committee Report
submitted by John Miller
Date: November 12, 2014
Name of Committee: Professional Awards Committee
Committee Members:
John Miller (chair)
Rachel Diersen
Jon Hooper
Lezlie Murray
Sara Lustbader
Paula Hanafee John Luzader (NAI VP-Programs)
Tasks Assigned:
1) Collect and score nominee submissions for 2014 NAI Professional Awards
2) Based on committee consensus select award winners in each category
3) Notify this year’s award winners
4) Notify Stone Imagery (company fabricating our plaques) of names and wording for
award plaques.
5) Collect information and photos from award winners for award presentations at NAI
National Workshop and send to Paul Caputo.
6) Confirm text for plaques from Stone Imagery and have plaques sent to NAI
Workshop.
7) Develop scripts to be used at NAI National Workshop for award presentations
8) Assist President and Executive Director to present awards at NAI National Workshop
in Denver, CO
Task Progress:
1) 25 Nominations were received by May 31, 2014. Electronic nominations have made
this process easier to manage, however, it was found that one electronic nomination
had been lost in the Awards Chair network and was not discovered until July. That
nomination was acknowledged with apology and will be automatically accepted for
the 2015 awards cycle. Two nominations, for President’s Award was made by Amy
Lethbridge and were accepted. .
There were 5 nominations for Meritorious Service, of which only 2 were chosen for
recognition. At the request of President Amy Lethbridge and Vice President Cem
Basman, a NAI Awards Task Force was created in August to clarify and make
recommendations for future Meritorious Service nominations.
2) Awards committee made final selections for awards by July 10, 2014. This gave us
more time to notify winners before the early bird registration date.
3) Notified the award winners and their nominees by phone, email, and letter by July 11,
2014. Notified unsuccessful nominators (not nominees) by email and letter between
July 10-12, 2014.
2010 NAI Professional Award winners are:
NAI Fellow (1 award)
John Veverka (John Veverka & Associates) East Lansing MI
Master Interpretive Manager (2 awards)
Skot Latona South Suburban Parks and Recreation, Littleton CO
Bill McGowan Ernie Miller Nature Center, Olathe KS
Master Front-Line Interpreter (2 awards)
Doug Elliott Possum Productions, Union Mills NC
Dorothy McLeer University of Michigan-Dearborn, Dearborn MI
Outstanding New Interpreter (1 award)
Heather Hortman Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago IL
Outstanding Interpretive Volunteer (1 award)
Bert Szabo – Metro Parks of Summit Cunty, Munro Falls OH
Outstanding Senior/Retired Interpreter (1 award)
Bill Wittersheim - Huron-Clinton Metro Parks, Carleton MI
Meritorious Service (2 awards)
Marving McNew – Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Huntington IN
Ray Novotny – Ford Nature Center, Linvingston OH
Community Interpretive Service Award (1 award)
Friends of Jackson County – Jackson County Conservation Center, Maquoeta IA
President’s Award (2 Awards)
Kye Joong Cho – Sunchon National University in South Korea
Choon-Hoon Cho – Mayor of Sunchon City in South Korea
4) Notified Stone Imagery of the names and text for the 13 awards for 2014 in late
September. Stone Imagery sent proofs of all the awards in mid-October. Added the
second President’s award (Mayor of Sunchon City) in late October.
5) Collected several photos and text of ‘why they won this award’ and sent to Paul
Caputo for inclusion in the NAI Workshop brochure.
6) Confirmed plaque names and text for awards being made by Stone Imagery on in
mid-October. Stone Imagery will be sending the awards directly to Deb Tewell at the
Fort Collins Office.
7) Sent final award presentation scripts to Amy Lethbridge & Margo Carlock on
November 7th. All award winners have indicated that they will be present to accept
their awards in Denver.
8) Scheduled with Deb Tewell to present awards at 3 different award venues at the NAI
National Workshop in Denver on November 19th(2 ceremonies), and 22nd.
Comments:
- This year’s chairmanship was taken on because the current NAI Awards Chair, Howard Aprill
was called to active military duty with the National Guard in Afghanistan. I had hoped to
‘groom’ a new awards chairman in this year’s committee, but the person who originally
expressed interest declined to serve. I hope all is well with Howard and that he makes a safe
return at the end of 2014. In the event that Howard is deployed longer into 2015, I plan to
continue as Awards Chair until his return.
- I have mentioned this before, but serving on the NAI Professional Awards committee has been
THE most rewarding experience of my professional career. I am consistently being humbled by
the outstanding work being provided by so many of our fellow NAI members. I am proud to
have played a part in recognizing these individuals at the national level. A huge thanks to both
Paul Caputo and Deb Tewell for all of their help and coordination.
- While we did not exceed the 2009 record of 31 nominations. I was very pleased with the
quality of the nominations. I received a suggestion to work with all Unit Directors to see if their
awards criteria matches the National Awards criteria. Some Units already do this and simply
create a new cover letter to pass along a new nomination. If more Units could do this we may
yet break the 31 nominations record.
- I want to continue to encourage more members to nominate their peers. I really want to get
more non-US nominations as well.