Contact: Angela Vitkoski
Date: April 13, 2016
Phone: (570) 718-6507
Email: [email protected]
Luzerne – The Northeast Environmental Partners are seeking nominations for the 26th annual Northeast Environmental Partnership Awards.
Now in its 26th year, the regionally acclaimed awards program pays tribute to those organizations and individuals of Northeastern Pennsylvania that have achieved environmental protection or conservation through partnering with others.
This year’s event will be held on Oct. 20, 2016 at the Woodlands Inn & Resort in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where the recipients of the 2016 Environmental Partnership Awards, the 2016 Thomas P. Shelburne Environmental Leadership Award, and the 2016 Emerging Environmental Leader Award will be honored. Click here to complete the nomination process.
The awards are open to any group, individual, company, program, or organization located in Northeast Pennsylvania whose work has had a positive impact on the region’s environment. Nominations are due by July 1, 2016.
By presenting these awards, the Environmental Partners (Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), PEC’s Northeast Office, PPL Corporation, Procter & Gamble Paper Products Company, and Wilkes University hope to encourage others in the community to emulate the methods and achievements of the honorees.
This event has become one of the most anticipated events on the regional calendar. At the 2015 Dinner, more than 300 people came together to salute the accomplishments of the awardees. The Northeast Environmental Partners invite you to submit nominations for this year’s awards. Read on to learn more about the awards, including how to submit the nominations for your candidates.
The Awards: A Brief History
The annual Environmental Partnership Awards were established in 1990, as an Earth Day project of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Environmental Partners. In the time since, they have become a highly coveted honor. Their intent now, as it was then, is to salute those who bring diverse groups and individuals together to solve problems of common interest and to recognize those who use partnering as their primary method to achieve environmental progress.
In 1995, the Partners established the Thomas P. Shelburne Environmental Leadership Award and presented it to Tom, posthumously. Mr. Shelburne was a highly respected community leader, who devoted himself, over four decades, to the protection and improvement of Pennsylvania’s environment. Each year, this award honors an individual who, like Tom, has devoted a large part of his/her life to environmental protection, and who, over the long term, has proven to be an inspiring leader and a champion of partnering.
In 2012, the Partners established the Emerging Environmental Leader Award. This award honors a student who demonstrates young environmental leadership, creativity, and dedication to inspire others
to adopt similar actions to protect the environment.
The annual Evening for Northeastern Pennsylvania’s Environment, at which the awards are presented, has grown from a small gathering on the Wilkes University Commons, to an event known statewide.
Each year, the Evening brings together hundreds of people who share a strong and personal interest in the environment.
Recent Honorees
2015 Environmental Partnership Awardees
- Bethlehem Authority & the Nature Conservancy
- Angela Colarusso
- Friends of Starrucca Creek
- Sue Nasrani
- Paupack Waves Lemelson MIT InvenTeam
- Corey Richmond
2015 Emerging Environmental Leader Award
- David Madl III, Luzerne County
2014 Environmental Partnership Awardees
- Every Drop Counts ~ Use a Rain Barrel
- Lackawanna Valley Trout Unlimited
- Newport Township Community Organization
- Pocono Avian Research Center
- Women & Their Woods ~ Delaware Highlands Conservancy
2014 Emerging Environmental Leader Award
- Emily Rinaldi, Lackawanna County
Thoms P. Shelburne Award
- 2015: Charles J. Charlesworth
- 2014: Bernard McGurl
- 2013: David Buck
- 2012: C. Allen Sacshe