Thomas Symons Award for Commitment to Conservation

The Thomas Symons Award for Commitment to Conservation (“Symons Award”) recognizes individuals whose professional career has made significant contributions to natural, cultural and built heritage conservation in Ontario. This award is adjudicated and presented alongside the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Awards program.

A maximum of one award is granted annually in this category.

Adjudication criteria

The jury will assess all eligible applications based on the adjudication criteria for each award category and with consideration for alignment with standards, best practices, legislation, etc., relevant to the applicable heritage field.

The following are the main criteria used by the jury for the Thomas Symons Award for Commitment to Conservation:

• individual has made exceptional professional contributions to heritage conservation over the course of his/her career
• individual’s work has had a positive impact on the community, region or province

Who is eligible?

• nominee must be a resident of Ontario
• nominee is or has been (could be retired) employed in a field of heritage conservation
• substantial amount of his/her career has been located in, and benefits, Ontario/people living in Ontario

Who is not eligible?

• self-nominations and posthumous nominations are not eligible
• staff and Board members of the Ontario Heritage Trust and their immediate families are not eligible
• incomplete nominations will not be considered — at least one completed reference from a relevant organization or community member must be provided for the application to be considered complete

Please direct questions to recognition@heritagetrust.on.ca.