BC Heritage Awards

BC Heritage Awards 2020

The BC Heritage Awards celebrates outstanding achievements and best practices that have impacted and strengthened all forms of heritage as a valued cultural resource in communities throughout British Columbia.

The BC Heritage Awards recognizes the achievements of individuals, organizations, groups, businesses, and local and regional governments in communities across BC.

Award Categories

Awards are presented in four categories (see below for additional information):

• Conservation: recognizing the best practices of built heritage rehabilitation, rejuvenation, re-use, and environmental resilience
• Education, Communications, and Awareness: recognizing excellence in programming that advances the appreciation, understanding, and practice of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
• Heritage Professional: this award is presented in two categories
  • Planning and Management: recognizing individuals or organizations that have produced reports, studies and other efforts that demonstrate best practices of innovations and traditions, community consultation, long-term sustainability, building resilience, and accessibility, and who advance the diversity and inclusivity of heritage.
  • Lifetime Achievement: recognizing those individuals who have made a career-long, cumulative impact and contribution to the practice and understanding of heritage.
• Distinguished Service: recognizing long-time volunteers for their significant contributions and leadership in their communities.

Conservation

• For the preservation, restoration, rehabilitation, or adaptive reuse of historic places, sites, and cultural landscapes.
• For high standards of heritage conservation based on the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada and Building Resilience: Practical Guidelines for the Retrofit and Rehabilitation of Buildings in Canada.
• For innovation and commitment to heritage conservation that also contributes to environmental, economic, social and/or cultural sustainability. Examples of connecting heritage and sustainability include: climate change adaptation and mitigation; environmental resource management; downtown/main street revitalization; design and adaptation for affordability and accessibility; community or arts and culture spaces.

Education, Communication and Awareness

• For increasing awareness and support for historic places, cultural heritage, and tangible and intangible heritage.
• For an achievement in heritage education or interpretation through social media, publications, displays, exhibits, or other products or activities to promote all forms of heritage.
• For community engagement, collaboration, partnerships, or public involvement

Heritage Professional: Planning and Management

• For individuals or organizations that have produced reports, studies and other efforts that demonstrate best practices of innovations and traditions, community consultation, long-term sustainability, building resilience and accessibility and, through their work, advance the diversity and inclusivity of heritage.
• For community heritage planning and cultural and heritage resource management
• For planning initiatives which support the long-term conservation of heritage resources through conservation plans, community plans, zoning, or financial incentive

Heritage Professional: Lifetime Achievement

• For individuals who have made a career-long, cumulative impact and contribution to the practice and understanding of heritage.

Distinguished Service Award

• For exemplary volunteer commitment by an individual to heritage conservation, through leadership in public awareness, heritage education or interpretation, or heritage advocacy.

Levels of Recognition

There are three levels of recognition for the award categories.

• Outstanding: for excellence
• Honour: for high achievements
• Recognition: for noteworthy achievements

Eligibility

Projects nominated for an award must have been completed within the past three calendar years (preceding the nominations deadlines).

Individuals, groups, organizations, businesses, local governments and other entities will be considered for a BC Heritage award, based on the information as submitted and the evaluation and selection criteria for each of the categories.

Please contact Heritage BC for more information on these criteria, and how to prepare the award nomination.

The Awards & Presentation Ceremony

The presentation of awards will take place at the annual conference to be held in Mission on Friday, May 8, 2020.

Information You Need to Know

• No more than two nominations may be made by the same nominator in each year. Incomplete nominations will not be considered by the Awards Committee.
• All decisions of the Awards Committee are final. Submissions may not be re-nominated in subsequent years; repeat nominations will be disqualified.
• Separate phases of large projects may be nominated, as long as they are clearly different from previously nominated work.
• Following review by the Awards Committee, nominators and successful nominees will be notified by email.