BC Heritage Awards

Award Categories

Conservation

Conservation: Recognizing best practices in the preservation, rehabilitation, and restoration of historic places.

NEW! Small but Mighty Conservation Award: Recognizing heritage conservation in communities and organizations whose perseverance and dedication more than compensate for small budgets and few staff.

Eligibility : Historic buildings and places, and cultural landscapes.

 

Education, Communications, and Awareness

Recognizing excellence in programming that advances the appreciation, understanding, and practice of tangible and intangible cultural heritage as it relates to places in BC.

Eligibility : Historic places, cultural heritage, tangible and intangible heritage ; Education or Interpretation through social media, publications, displays, exhibits, or other outputs, actions or initiatives that promote heritage.

 

Planning and Management

Recognizing best practices for the planning and management of heritage places through reports, studies, and plans, as well as ongoing maintenance, operations, and reprogramming.

Eligibility : Community Heritage Planning ; Cultural and heritage resource management ; Adaptable and compatible re-uses for continued-use, which may not include full conservation ; Planning initiatives for long-term conservation and maintenance plans, community plans, zoning or financial incentives

 

Professional Achievement

Lifetime Achievement: Recognizing heritage professionals who have made a career-long, cumulative impact and contribution to the practice and understanding of heritage in BC.

NEW! Emerging Heritage Professional: Recognizing heritage professionals who have worked the sector for under 10 years, and nonetheless made an impact on the advancement and understanding of heritage in BC.

Eligibility: Professionals working in the heritage sector within fields such as … Archaeology & Anthropology, Conservation, Craft & Trade, Cultural Tourism, Education, Environmental Assessment, History,  Architecture and Landscape, Engineering, Historic Sites, Museums and Archives, Planners, Public Sector, etc.

 

Volunteer

Ruby Nobbs Distinguished Service: Recognizing volunteers who have made a life-long commitment, and who have shaped heritage in their communities through significant contributions and leadership
Learn more about Ruby Nobbs, and her impact on heritage in BC here.

NEW! Outstanding Impact Volunteer: Recognizing volunteers who have demonstrated dedication above and beyond to make a specific program, project or initiative a reality.

Eligibility: Must be nominated for work accomplished in a volunteer capacity

 

Indigenous and Diverse Cultures: Reconciliation, Redress, and Expanded Recognition

Recognizing initiatives and programs that contribute to the ongoing commitment in an organization to inclusivity, including reconciliation and/or redress, and expanded recognition, and have taken tangible steps that have made differences in how they operate, develop and deliver programs, and inspire their communities.

Eligibility: Tangible and intangible heritage ; Internal (changes within an organization), external (public facing events, programs) ; Partnerships

Supporting Materials

• For all categories, PDF documents or scanned images of letters, news clippings, or other materials may also be uploaded.
• Statements of Impact should :
  • • Be under 200 words (1 page double spaced max.)
    • Explain how they became aware of the nominee (ex. worked with them, participated in the program, was consulted as a community member).
    • Describe how the nominee impacted them or their community positively.
    • Share why they believe the nominee should receive an award.
• Nominators agree to Heritage BC using submitted photos and statements for promotional purposes, if the nominee is selected as a winner.

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Levels of Recognition and Criteria

Levels of Recognition

Recognition		Honour		Outstanding
Demonstrates strong quality of work, completed with the implementation of best practices and heritage values.		Demonstrates impressive quality of work, including following best practices, incorporating heritage values, resulting in a significant impact.		Should be upheld as an example of best practice, and its impacts may include increasing standards due to new innovations. Embodies Heritage Values.

 

Criteria Considered

1. Quality		2. Impact		3. Heritage Values
Did the nominee achieve an excellence of work that is consistent with previous awards winners?		Did the nominee contribute to Heritage Conservation, the Practice of Heritage, and/or Sustainability and Growth in Community?		Did the nominee demonstrate an awareness of and consideration for Heritage Values in their work? (see below)

Heritage Values

We believe that Heritage…
– Includes the tangible, intangible, natural and cultural environment.
– Works for the betterment of society, its development and its enjoyment.
– Requires different perspectives, approaches and worldviews, and a multiplicity of representations and interpretations to form its complexities.
– Requires community engagement and collaborations at its foundation.
– Requires building capacities across the sector for its growth and sustainability.

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Eligibility, Process, and Timeline

Eligibility

• Projects nominated for an award must have been completed within the past three calendar years (preceding the nomination deadline).
• Nominated individuals must live in British Columbia and sites must be located in the province.
• Nominations with insufficient information will not be considered; it is important that each submission provides sufficient information to describe why the project/person suits the category and why the project/person is worthy of an award.
• Separate phases of large projects are eligible, as long as they are clearly different from previously nominated work.

Process

• The nominations submitted to the BC Heritage Awards are reviewed by a jury of peers, who will consider alignment to the outlined criteria and the completeness of the submitted information.
• Special consideration will be given to projects that reflect one or more emerging heritage priorities. Nominators can provide details in the Additional Considerations section of the nomination form to share how these priorities were incorporated in the nominee’s work.
  Priorities include:
  • • Community building
    • Cultural heritage awareness
    • Technology and social media
    • Diversity and inclusion
    • Environmental resiliency and climate action
    • Recognition of and partnership with First Nations and distinct cultures.

The BC Heritage Awards Timeline

Early January : Nomination period opens
End of February: Nomination period closes
March : Jury meets and evaluates nominations
April : Award winners are notified privately
May : Awards winners are announced publicly at the Heritage BC Annual Conference

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Information for Nominators

• No more than two nominations may be made by the same nominator in each year.
• A person may be listed on multiple nominations (ex. A nominee for the Ruby Nobbs Distinguished Service Award might also be listed as one of the names in a nomination for a Planning and Management Award)
• It is up to the nominator to ensure the completeness and accuracy of the information provided – this includes the list of nominees – please be accurate. Once the form is submitted, you will receive a copy of your submitted information by email. If you wish to update your information, please contact us.
• Following the nomination deadline, nominators will be notified by email about next steps and updates.
• Awards are announced at our annual conference in May.
• All decisions are final.

If you have questions about the BC Heritage Awards form or process, or would like to discuss your potential nomination, please contact us. We will be happy to help you.

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Ruby Nobbs – Honouring a Distinguished Volunteer

The late Ruby Nobbs (March 20, 1907 to April 4, 2001) stands as an example of dedicated heritage volunteerism. 

Living her whole life in the small mountain community of Revelstoke, she dedicated her best years to the benefit of her community. She was a founding member of the Revelstoke and District Historical Association, and instrumental in helping that organization start Revelstoke Museum and Archives. Ruby acted as museum manager from 1982 – 1999. She was also an early member of the Revelstoke Heritage Railway Society, and was a driving force behind the establishment of the Revelstoke Railway Museum.

Ruby served for many years on Revelstoke’s Heritage Commission, and was a member of the board of Heritage BC. Ruby is known for her two books published on Revelstoke’s history, the second of which was published in 1998 when she was 91 years old and partially blind. Her commitment as a volunteer in her community and its heritage helped formed the foundation of heritage advocacy and protection as we now know it in British Columbia.

The Ruby Nobbs Distinguished Service award seeks to recognize other volunteers who carry the same spirit as Ruby did.

Nominate an outstanding volunteer from your community. Learn more about the award here.

Thank you to Cathy English at the Revelstoke Museum and Archives for providing information on and photos of Ruby. Find Ruby’s books at the museum bookstore.