Advocacy Award

The VAF Advocacy Award recognizes exemplary efforts and achievements on behalf of our vernacular built heritage. The award honors individuals and groups for exceptional contributions toward the interpretation, appreciation, and protection of vernacular buildings and cultural landscapes, and recognizes outstanding initiative, commitment, and action to promote and protect vernacular resources. The award may be made in recognition of a specific effort or the nominee's long-term record.  Awardee will be given two full registrations to the VAF conference and a certificate of excellence. 

Call for Nominations - 2021 Advocacy Award

The Vernacular Architecture Forum seeks nominations for the 2024 VAF Advocacy Award. This award will be presented at the annual conference in Keweenaw, Michigan in 2024. 

The application deadline is Wednesday, November 15, 2023.

The VAF Advocacy Award recognizes exemplary efforts and achievements on behalf of our vernacular built heritage. The award honors individuals and groups for exceptional contributions toward the interpretation, appreciation, and protection of vernacular buildings and cultural landscapes, and recognizes outstanding initiative, commitment, and action to promote and protect vernacular resources. The award may be made in recognition of a specific effort or the nominee's long-term record. The awardee will be given two full complimentary registrations including tours and the banquet for the VAF conference and a certificate of excellence.

Eligibility:

Any public or private entity or individual in North America may be nominated.

Nominations:

Nominations should include the following: 

• A summary paragraph of the nominee’s advocacy effort or highlights of the nominee’s long-term advocacy work. 
• An up to 1,000-word narrative of how the nominee’s work has contributed to the appreciation and protection of vernacular buildings and/or cultural landscapes. The description should include information about the vernacular resources and their history and emphasize the public outreach—such as curricula, websites, and public speaking—that is the basis for the nomination. 
• Description of people and organization partners that contributed to the advocacy effort. 
• For advocacy over a career, a timeline or chronology noting the highlights of the nominee’s advocacy. 
• Images of the vernacular resources that were the focus of the advocacy effort and events that contributed to the effort. 
• Links to websites or other relevant digital outreach developed for advocacy. 

Submissions: 

Please submit nomination materials electronically in a single zip file OR as a link to a single downloadable file on a cloud drive to advocacy@vafweb.org. Should the file size exceed 50MB, please communicate with us at the same email address. If you prefer to send a paper or hard copy of your documentation, please email us so that we may make alternate arrangements. 

Electronic nomination materials should be submitted to advocacy@vafweb.org.   

Past Advocacy Award winners are here.