2021WEDA ENVIRONMENTAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Process and Criteria February 10, 2021

Awards will be presented during the June 2021 WEDA Dredging Summit

Applications should be submitted in PDF format byApril23, 2021, to Craig Vogt, Chair of WEDA’s Environmental Commission, at Craig@CraigVogt.com.

Objective

The 2021WEDAEnvironmental Excellence Awards will recognize projects for their outstanding contribution to meeting the goals of the WEDA, which include:

Promote communication and understanding of environmental issues and stimulate new solutions associated with dredging and placement of dredged materials such that dredging projects, including navigation and environmental, are accomplished in an efficient manner while meeting environmental goals.

The 2021Awards

Three Environmental Excellence Awards will be given, one for each of the following categories:

• DREDGING FOR NAVIGATION: Purpose is to create or maintain navigation channels;
• ENVIRONMENTAL DREDGING:Purpose is environmental enhancement, i.e., remediation, wetland enhancement, restoration or creation, or any other dredging project whose primary objective is environmental in nature;and
• MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE: This category includes dredging or marine construction projects that exemplify and implement the WODA Statement on Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change. The WODA Statement can be found on the WEDA website athttps://www.westerndredging.org/index.php/awards/environmental-excellence-awards.For further explanation of this category, see the text boxes.

Process and General Criteria

These awards will be announced and presented during the WEDA Dredging Summit to be held virtually June 15-17, 2021.Winners of the awards should be present online during the awards presentation(to be scheduled).

• Recognition will include a plaque, a press release, and a special highlight on the WEDA website.
• The award will be for a project, and team members will be recognized. The preference is for all project team members to be WEDA members; however, at least one of the project team members must be a WEDA member in good standing.

• The project must be related to dredging or marine engineering, consistent with WEDA’s mission, which includes beneficial use of dredged material.

• The project must not have been completed more than three years from the date of the award application for the Navigation and Environmental Dredging Categories and four years for the Climate Change Category. For longer-term projects, specific increments or phases must have been completed to be eligible for consideration.
• Projects can be resubmitted(in the same category or in a different category) if they were not selected in the previous year for the WEDA Environmental Excellence Award, provided the above time limits are met.
• Summaries of the Award-winning projects, as written in the applications, will be included in a press release and possibly in a newsletter or other electronic communication.
• All project applications will be included, as submitted,on the WEDA website, after the June 2021Dredging Summit. Submittal of an application grants permission for these actions.
• Projects submitted in 2020 are automatically included in 2021 award applications. Submittals may be updated at the discretion of the applicant, provided they are submitted by April 23, 2021.
• While projects will be awarded based upon their merits, using the ranking criteria provided below, the WEDA Environmental Excellence Awards Review Team does appreciate an application that is well formatted, easy to read, and clearly explains why the project qualifies based on each ranking criterion.
• The WEDA Environmental Excellence Awards Review Team are all members of WEDA’s Environmental Commission.

Project Ranking Criteria

• Environmental benefits (35 points)
• What are the environmental benefits?
• What unique environmental challenges were addressed?
• Were any mitigation measures adopted?If so,list the measures.
• Did the project incorporate the principles within the approaches of working with nature or engineering with nature?
• Innovation (20 points)
• How does this project show leadership and take steps beyond “traditional” environmental protection efforts?
• Did the project “break new ground” in addressing the environmental challenges?
• What methods, technologies, or approaches (including partnerships) were used?
• What sustainable approaches were applied?
• Economic benefits (15 points)
• Explain implementation of cost-effective methods, procedures, or practices in terms of environmental protection efforts.Were there project efficiencies? Were there any specific cost-saving or economic enhancement components of the project?
• What are the socio-economic aspects of the project, e.g., positive impacts to the quality of life to stakeholders?
• How does the project contribute to the economy?
• Transferability (15 points)
• Are the project characteristics and lessons learned transferable and can they be used by others addressing similar environmental issues?
• Outreach and Education (15 points)
• What education and/or outreach activities were undertaken?
• What mechanisms were used to involve the broad array of stakeholders?

Applications

• Applications must be submitted in English.
• Applications should clearly identify the award category: Navigation Dredging, Environmental Dredging, or Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change.
• Important:Applications should be no longer than 6 pages total length.
• Outline of application:
  • Cover page. Does not count towards page count.
  • Summary: project description: goals, objectives, accomplishments (one page maximum). The Summary will be used in the press release.
  • List of project team members and their affiliations, including the project owner, the role of the team members, WEDA membership status, and the nominating entity.
  • Environmental benefits
  • Innovation
  • Economic benefits
  • Transferability
  • Outreach and education
  • Inclusion of project figures, diagrams, or photographs is encouraged (maximum of three pages). These pages do not count towards the page count.