Call for Nominations for the 2016 American Recreation Coalition Beacon and Legend Awards,

United States Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management
Washington, D.C. 20240
http://www.blm.gov

March 10, 1016

In Reply Refer To:
8300 (250) P
 
EMS TRANSMISSION 03/23/2016
Information Bulletin No. 2016-041
 
 
To:                   All Washington Office and Field Office Officials
 
From:               Acting Assistant Director, Resources and Planning
 
Subject:           Call for Nominations for the 2016 American Recreation Coalition Beacon and Legend Awards, DD: 04/08/2016
 
This Information Bulletin invites each state director, center director, and Washington Office (WO) Assistant Director to make nominations for two separate American Recreation Coalition (ARC) awards that will be presented in June during Partners Outdoors 2016, a feature of “Great Outdoors Month”.  These awards are the Beacon Award, which recognizes innovative use of technology, communications and partnerships to improve recreation program management and enhance the experiences of visitors, especially young people and “non-traditional” visitors; and the Legends Award, which recognizes an extraordinary Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employee for efforts that have expanded and enhanced recreational opportunities, connecting people – especially children – and the outdoors.  The ARC will present the Beacon and Legends Awards at special events in Washington, DC, during Partners Outdoors, June 1- 2, 2016.
 
Nominations for each award should be submitted no later than March 18, 2016, to the Recreation and Visitor Services Division (WO-250).  By April 15, 2016, the BLM will select the BLM Legends Award Honoree and will forward the Beacon Award nomination to the ARC.  The ARC will select the Beacon Award Honorees by May 1, 2016.  Honorees for both awards will be notified in early May 2016.
 
The BLM Legends Award honorees residing outside the Washington, D.C. metro area are provided 1 week of travel expenses and per diem.  The BLM Legends Award Honoree is also invited to be accompanied by a guest.  The WO-250 will cover all the travel expenses of the BLM Legends Honoree and guest.  No similar funding is provided for Beacon Award recipient travel expenses.
 
Annually, the ARC President, Derrick Crandall, formally invites the BLM to participate in the awards program conducted as part of Partners Outdoors.  The BLM began participating in the Legends Awards program in 1991 and in the Beacon Awards program in 2006.  The lists of past BLM recipients for both awards are included in Attachments 1 and 2.
 
The WO-250 will coordinate the awards nomination process.  Attachments 3 and 4 provide the details and nomination criteria for the Legends and Beacon Awards.  Each BLM State Director, Center Director, and WO Assistant Director may submit one nomination for each award to WO-250.  
 
The nomination packet for both awards must include:

·         Either the project title (Beacon Award) or the nominees name (Legends Award).
 
·         Contact information to include the Honoree’s address, phone number, fax number, and e-mail address.
 
·         A narrative addressing the four ARC criteria for the appropriate award.
 
·         A concise summary paragraph to be used by ARC to prepare the award citation.

In addition, a high quality digital head and shoulders photograph of the nominee suitable for publication and display should be provided to WO-250 by April 20, 2016, so that it can be transmitted to the ARC by its deadline of May 1, 2016.
 
Attachments 5 and 6, nominations submitted for recent BLM Legends and Beacons Honorees, serve as example nomination packages for both the Legends and Beacons Awards.
 
Beacon Awards –BLM may make a maximum of two nominations to ARC.  A BLM interdisciplinary team will be established to review all of the BLM’s nominees.  The team will recommend up to two Beacon Award nominees to the Division Chief, WO-250, who will make the final recommendation and then forward the recommendations to ARC.  The final selection of honorees will be done by a special panel assembled by ARC.
 
Legends Award – One BLM Legends Honoree is named annually to receive this prestigious award.  An interdisciplinary team will be established to review all of the BLM’s nominees.
The team will recommend a BLM Honoree to the Division Chief, WO-250, who will make the final recommendation and forward the recommendation to the Assistant Director Resources and Planning (AD-200) for concurrence.  Upon AD-200 approval, the Division Chief, WO-250 will notify the Honoree and provide the Honoree’s name, photograph and award citation information to ARC.
 
Both the Beacon and Legend Award winners will be honored at special luncheons during the Partners Outdoors 2016 proceedings on June 1 and 2, 2016, respectively.  
 
Please submit the completed nomination packets for both awards by April 8, 2016, providing the documentation listed in the background section above.  Send the complete nomination packets for each award by e-mail to Peggi Brooks, Division of Recreation and Visitor Services at pbrooks@BLM.gov, or contact her by telephone at 202-912-7254 for more information.
 
Signed by:                                                        Authenticated by:
Kristin Bail                                                        Catherine Emmett
Acting Assistant Director                                  IT Policy and Planning, WO-870 
Resources and Planning

 
6 Attachments
     1 – BLM Legends Honoree Award Listing (1p)
     2 – ARC Beacon Award Honorees Nominated by BLM (1p)
     3 – American Recreation Coalition Legends Awards Purpose and Selection Criteria (1p)
     4 – American Recreation Coalition Beacon Awards Purpose and Selection Criteria (1p)
     5 – Example Nomination Submission for Legends Honoree (4pp)
     6 – Example Nomination Submission for Beacon Award Honoree (6pp)