Completing a Nomination

NOMINATIONS FOR THE 22^nd ANNUAL EMERALD AWARDS

A nomination for the Emerald Awards will take from 2 to 5 hours to complete. Please use our electronic submission form to nominate your project. To begin, click Submit a Nomination button below. Complete instructions are included. Be sure to keep in mind the Judging Criteria and the Award Category descriptions when completing the form. Be sure to follow the instructions carefully, as incomplete nominations will not be judged. All nominations will be confirmed and validated.

To download the nominations instructions (as outlined on this page) in a PDF document, please click here.

Instructions for Completing an Emerald Award Nomination

1. Nominations for the Emerald Awards will only be accepted through our online system, accessible through www.emeraldfoundation.ca
2. Nominations cannot be saved.  Please complete your answers in a word document before hand, and then simply “cut and paste” your answers into the appropriate fields.  The long answer questions are:
   1. Summary of Activities (150 word limit)
   2. Demonstration of Environmental Benefits & Outcomes (250 word limit)
   3. Demonstration of Commitment (250 word limit)
   4. Demonstration of Sharing  (250 word limit)
   5. Demonstration of Innovation (250 word limit)
   6. SHARED FOOTPRINTS ONLY: Demonstration of Principles of ILM (500 word limit)
   7. Why is the nominated project Emerald Award worthy? (250 word limit)
3. Each nomination MUST have two letters of reference/support attached.
4. OPTIONAL: Each nomination may upload one supporting document or include a web link (such as to YouTube to show a video)
5. Complete the form following the instructions below.
6. Should you be completing two or more nominations, be sure to give them each a name exclusive to that particular nomination

NOMINEE NAME AND PROJECT

Nominee:  This is the name of the person or organization you are nominating to receive an Emerald Award and will be the name that appears in the program, on the website and on the Award (should this nomination be chosen as a recipient) as the “Nominee”.  If you are nominating an organization, you will be asked later in this form who the individual contact will be for the nomination.  You may nominate yourself.

Project: In 10 words or less, give the nomination the title you wish to appear along with the Nominee’s name.  If you are nominating an individual or a group for their full body of work, simply insert their name in this field.

Nominee Contact Information:

Nominee Contact Name:  Provide the name of an appropriate contact person to represent the nomination.  Where the nominee is an individual, normally that individual will be the contact; where the nominee is an organization, please provide the name of an individual who can provide clarification or additional information about the project as necessary.

Nominee Contact Address: Provide complete contact information for the Nominee and indicate whether it is the Nominee’s home or business address:

• Position Title
• Organization
• Complete mailing address, including postal code
• Email address: all updates on the status of the nomination will be communicated through e-mail. Regretfully, failure to provide a current email address will make it difficult to provide regular updates.
• Organizational Website: if available

NOMINATOR CONTACT INFORMATION

Nominator Contact Name: If you are self nominating, please check the “Same as Nominee” box and proceed to Nomination Category.  If you are nominating someone else, please provide your name here.  You will be the primary contact for the Emerald Foundation for logistical information. 

Nominator Address: please provide complete contact information for the Nominator and indicate whether it is a home or business address:

• Nominator Prefix:  Please indicate his/her title: Mr.  Mrs. Ms. Dr. etc.
• Position Title
• Organization
• Complete mailing address, including postal code
  • Email address: all updates on the status of the nomination will be communicated to the Nominator through e-mail. Regretfully, failure to provide a current email address will make it difficult to provide regular updates.  NOTE:  It is the responsibility of the Nominator to keep the Nominee updated when appropriate.

Category:  Choose one category that you think fits your nomination best.  A complete list of categories and the criteria used to judge them is included in this document as well as on the AEF website. The Judges reserve the right to move nominations from one award category to another where appropriate.

The online nomination form has been formatted to provide word limits for all long-answer fields. You will find that you will be unable to “Submit” the nomination if you have gone over the total space provided, and will be prompted to edit appropriately

1. Summary of Activities:  This space is limited to 150 words.  Provide a succinct description of the nomination.  Include the objectives and outcomes of the project or the accomplishments of the Nominee in relation to environmental excellence. This summary will appear in the Emerald Foundation website database and will be used in the 21st Annual Emerald Awards Program should your nomination be chosen as a finalist.

2. Environmental Benefit & Outcomes

• Identify what environmental receptor or element of the environment is benefiting from the project or activity being nominated: air, land, water, flora, fauna, biodiversity, waste reduction etc.
• Effectiveness in engaging youth
• Clearly identify/describe/explain how this is being accomplished:
  • Reducing the impact on the environment
  • Protecting preserving, enhancing
  • Reclamation, restoration
  • Kids doing a clean up
  • Conservation or preservation (i.e. nature conservancy holding land)
  • Social science (culture) has a role in environmental protection

How does the nominated project achieve environmental benefit and outcomes?  250 word limit

3. Commitment

• What were the results achieved?
• Demonstrate the depth and breadth of involvement by individuals and organizations
• # of years project has been active
• Demonstrate the extraordinary levels of dedication required to see the project or work of the nominee to completion
• Describe the magnitude of impact
• Did the project overcome any barriers?  How did this contribute to project learning?

How does the nominated project demonstrate commitment?  250 word limit

4. Sharing

• How did/does this nominee influence others:
  • How were project results shared?
  • Did the project educate target audiences or the public?
  • Lead by example in order to change attitudes in specific industries or sectors
• Collaboration / partnerships with other organizations and individuals
  • # of people involved, # of partners involved
  • Extent of cross-sector partnerships (i.e. between different industry sectors; or partnering between industry, government, environmental NGO’s, and community; versus partnering within a single

• How has this work influenced others to follow the same approaches, or how the project can stand as a prototype for future projects?

How does the nominated project incorporate sharing?  250 word limit

 5. Innovation

• Is the nominee or the project creative or new?
• Does it use older technology in a new way?
• Does it provide leadership for others?
• Is this a research project – will and has it influenced public policy?
• How does this project differ from business-as-usual?

In what way(s) is the project innovative? 250 word limit

6. Shared Footprints Award Only: Nominations in this category must be observant and consistent with the Emerald Awards Criteria, as well, must demonstrate alignment to Integrated Land Management Principles:

• Describe how there will be a reduction in land-use disturbances relative to what would have occurred in the absence of integrated efforts
• Describe how land users in the area affected by the proposed new activity have been identified and engaged, and their diverse interests, knowledge and values in the area have been considered.
• Have impacts on other land users been identified and addressed?
• Is the land use proposal supported by other land users? Where it isn’t supported, describe the efforts taken to address concerns.
• What are the identified social, cultural and environmental resources that will be affected throughout the lifecycle of the activity? How will these effects be addressed?
• What are the risks to stated values for land in the area? What is the management strategy used to address these risks?
• Describe how the best available knowledge, data, information, science, process and/or models have been used to support the proposed activity, and how this will be used to minimize the present and future footprint.
• How does the proposed activity demonstrate shared stewardship?
• Has the entire lifecycle of the activity, including reclamation activities upon closure, been considered or anticipated?
• Are potential future uses and interests been accommodated during the life of the activity and/or after the activity has concluded?
• How will you continuously improve tools and process, while identifying information gaps and other needs (adaptive management)? Describe the mechanisms for collecting feedback and learning, and how this is influences changes in management practices.

How does the nominated project align with the above principles?

7. Why is the nominated project Emerald Award worthy? 250 word limit  This is your chance to explain why you believe the nominated project deserves to receive an Emerald Award.  Feel free to use your creativity in your response and highlight anything that you feel may have been missed in the above sections.

8. Please attach 2 letters of support for the nominated project or testimonials.  This provides an "outside voice" to validate your good work.

9. OPTIONAL: One supporting document or a link to a website such as YouTube may be uploaded, if you wish.

• Please limit your supplementary materials to fewer than 10 megabytes.  These could be in the form of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PDF or image files. Please do not send large movie files via email.
• The Emerald Awards judges have over 100 nominations to review; their decision-making is based primarily on the info in the nomination form, not the supplementary material.  Please do not rely on supplementary materials to make an impact on the judges.
• Reference to relevant websites in the application can be helpful to the judges.

CONDITIONS

Here you confirm that all the information in the nomination is true and accurate and give the Foundation permission to use the information provided in the nomination in promoting the Awards through the website, email, media or other means.  You also confirm that someone will represent the nomination at the Awards ceremony.  As a separate question, you are asked if the Foundation can use any personal contact information you provided for similar purposes. This is not a required condition.  

Please check each box as appropriate and have the nominee or an authorized representative sign and date it.  Please also provide a media contact person.  In most cases this will be the nominee, but please keep in mind that this information will be shared publicly. 

CONFIRMATION DETAILS

Once your nomination is received by the Alberta Emerald Foundation, you will be taken to a NEW SCREEN with a confirmation message.  You will also receive a confirmation email.  If you do not receive these messages, that means your nonmination did not go through.  Please contact us if you do not receive confirmation!

Over the next few months, you will receive information regarding the status of your nomination.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

For more information, or if you have any questions, please contact the Alberta Emerald Foundation at (780) 413-9629 or by email at info@emeraldfoundation.ca.