awards

Environmental Achievement Award

Subject Area and Award Eligibility

TAC has established an Environmental Achievement Award to recognize exemplary contributions by a TAC member in the environmental area with respect to providing transportation services. The award is open to all members of TAC and their respective staff including all individual members, private companies, public sector agencies, academic institutions and related transportation organizations. Members who have made a contribution to the protection and enhancement of the environment or who have been particularly innovative in their approach to solve an environmental problem are eligible for the award.

The establishment of this award is indicative of TAC’s sensitivity to environmental concerns. As well, it acts as an incentive to members to address the need to continue to develop and implement transportation-based environmental codes of practice and guidelines for their operations.

Nomination Requirements

A representative of any TAC member may make a nomination by submitting a one-page abstract electronically to Sarah Wells at swells@tac-atc.ca by January 25, 2013.

This is a required first step of the submission process. The abstract should demonstrate how the full submission will address the Environmental Achievement Award evaluation criteria outlined below. The abstract should be 1 page in length, 12 point font, single spaced.

If the nominee's abstract is approved, the nominated individual will be contacted by February 18 and invited to make a full submission to TAC prior to 12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on March 22, 2013.

This submission should be no longer than seven (7) pages of text on 8.5" x 11" sheets with size 12 font. Supporting photos and diagrams are not to be included in the seven-page limit and should be attached as an appendix (maximum 5 pages).

Submissions should:

(1) outline what activity or initiative was undertaken to contribute to the protection or enhancement of the environment;

(2) identify any cost implications associated with the initiative (e.g. indicate if the new procedures are more or less cost effective than the traditional techniques that are being replaced); and

(3) identify the organization or person being nominated.

Your March 22 submission must consist of an electronic file in PDF format. The submission, with appendices if applicable, should be e-mailed to:

Katarina Cvetkovic

Program Manager
E-mail:kcvetkovic@tac-atc.ca

Review Procedures and Evaluation Criteria

A Selection Panel composed of four to five members of TAC's Environment Council will evaluate all submissions and make a recommendation to the Board of Directors as to who should receive the award. Each nomination will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

(1) Contribution made to the protection and enhancement of the environment. Protection of the environment should be described in terms of measures taken in an effort to retain or minimize diminution of, the quality or value of ecological components. Enhancement of the environment is defined as raising the quality or value of the environment from that which existed prior to implementation of the program or project, and is considered a value added element for which extra credit will be awarded. Contributions can be expressed in terms of resource function, quantity, ecological diversity and/or economic benefits.

(2) Degree of innovation shown in the approach used to solve or address an environmental problem or issue. This may apply to anything from public and agency consultation to financing and all of the "hard" environmental planning, design and construction/implementation elements.

(3) Financial implications associated with the initiative. Particular consideration will be given to those submissions that include alternative approaches or measures that are more cost-effective, but equally/more efficient and/or environmentally effective, than those normally used. Candidates are strongly encouraged to include quantified costs as evidence.

(4) Overall applicability to transportation and the need for the technique or concept to be disseminated to other TAC members and the transportation community as a whole.

Deadlines for the Environmental Achievement Award

  • Abstracts to be submitted to TAC: January 25
  • Review Panel to complete screening of abstracts: February 12
  • Screening results to be communicated to nominees: February 18
  • Full submissions to be delivered to TAC: March 22 (prior to 12:00 p.m. EST)
  • Selected nominees to be invited to present at the TAC Conference: April 26
  • Results to be communicated to nominees: June 19

Award Presentation

The award is normally given annually based on the recommendation of the Evaluation Panel and endorsement of TAC's Environmental Council, and will be presented at the TAC Conference.

As a means of promoting environmental protection within transportation, nominees are expected to present their respective projects at the TAC 2013 Conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba, September 22-25. Accordingly, the presentations will be included in the TAC 2013 conference proceedings. The award recipient(s) will be featured in an upcoming edition of TAC News.