The Colin Stewart Award for Conservation in Nova Scotia

This Award, to be known as the Colin Stewart Conservation Award, was established in 2004 by the Halifax Field Naturalists (HFN) to honour the many contributions of Colin Stewart to the preservation of natural areas in Nova Scotia.

The Award is to be given annually to an individual or group for significant conservation efforts in the province. However, the Award may not be presented in a year when there is no nominee deemed suitable for the Award by the Board of Directors of HFN.

The Colin Stewart Award Committee will evaluate nominations for the Award. Members of the Award Committee will be appointed by the Board of Directors and may be either regular or executive members of HFN.

1) Purpose of the Award:

To recognize individuals or groups who have made an outstanding contribution to conservation in Nova Scotia. Such contribution is characterized by undertaking and completing challenging conservation tasks of provincial significance in Nova Scotia or by outstanding efforts over an extended period of time that yield significant progress towards the completion of a conservation task of provincial significance.

2) Eligibility:

HFN board members shall not be eligible for this award during their term of office unless the Award Committee unanimously considers the contribution in time and effort by the board member to be truly outstanding and significantly above that expected of an HFN board member.

3) Nomination Procedure:

(i) Nominations for the award can be made by any individual or group in Nova Scotia.

(ii) Nominations are to be made in writing and submitted to the Halifax Field Naturalists by the published deadline.

(iii) Nominations are to include the following information:

· The nominee’s name, mailing address, phone number and email address (where applicable);

· The nominator’s name, mailing address, phone number and email address (where applicable);

· Details of the nominee’s achievements, including the scope of impact of the conservation project, the relationship of the conservation achievement to the nominee’s employment (if applicable), the specific role the nominee played in the conservation project(s), and the success of the project.

(iv) The Award Committee will review the nominations, acquire such additional information as is required to evaluate the nominee, and recommend the recipient(s) to the Board, for ratification.

(v) The HFN Board shall confer the Colin Stewart Conservation Award to the recipient at the Annual General Meeting of HFN or at the next earliest opportunity.

(vi) On the recommendation of the Award Committee, a file may remain active for three years or until an award is made to the nominee. The President shall contact the nominator for each active file well in advance of the published deadline to ask if there are any appropriate additions to the file.

4) Evaluation Procedure

The Colin Stewart Award Committee members shall independently evaluate the nominees using the following matrix:

	Score Value (points)
Criteria	3	2	1
Scope of impact	Provincial	Regional	Local
Degree of voluntarism	Fully	Allied to work or study	Related to work or study
Compatibility with HFN objectives	High	Moderate	Low
Comparative value rank	Top 1/3	Middle 1/3	Bottom 1/3

The Colin Stewart Conservation Award consists of:

· a story in the Halifax Field Naturalist, the HFN newsletter, describing the accomplishments for which the recipient won the award;

· presentation of a plaque bearing the HFN logo and an appropriate inscription; and

· presentation of a certificate suitable for framing.