Legacy Awards

Nominations for 2019 Legacy Awards are now closed.

2015 Legacy Award winners

2015 Legacy Award winners

About the Legacy Awards

The Task Force began the Legacy Awards program in 1999 to recognize individuals and organizations that perform exemplary work in the areas of oil spill prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. We define such exemplary projects as successful efforts that go beyond regulatory requirements to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from oil spills. Over the past two decades, we have presented 64 Legacy Awards to a wide range of organizations, groups, businesses and individuals.

Who is eligible

We welcome nominations from all governments, industry, non-profit organizations, academia and the public.

Employees of Task Force member agencies are not eligible to submit nominations. These agencies include:

  • Alaska – Dept. of Environmental Conservation
  • British Columbia – Ministry of the Environment
  • California – Dept. of Fish and Wildlife
  • Hawaii – Dept. of Environmental Health
  • Oregon – Dept. of Environmental Quality
  • Washington – Dept. of Ecology 

Award Categories

Awards are granted in the following three categories:

  1. Organizational
    1. Industry
      • Vessel operators
      • Oil handling facilities and inland transport operator
      • Other associated industry
    2. Non-profit
      • Public Interest organization
      • Educational organization or institution
      • Research organization or institution
      • Professional Association
      • Spill Response Cooperatives
    3. Government Entities
      • State/provincial agencies (except Task Force member agencies)
      • US or Canadian federal agencies
      • US tribes or First Nations of Canada
  2. Individual
    • Private citizen
    • Public agency employee (see categories in I)
    • Industry employee (see categories in I)
    • Non-profit organization employee (see categories in I)
  3. Team
    • Teams of individuals that do not fit into the organizational category but which have achieved spill prevention, preparedness, and response successes that meet the criteria identified below may also be nominated.

Meet previous Legacy Award winners

To view a complete list of previous Legacy Award recipients, visit: http://oilspilltaskforce.org/ourwork/legacy-awards-list/

Legacy Award Timeline

  • Week of March 25, 2019: Call for Nominations
  • May 31, 2019: Nominations due
  • August, 2019: Winner notification letters sent out
  • November 13, 2019: Winners announced at Task Force Annual Meeting in Bellingham, WA

Deadline and Submittal Information

Nominations are due by 5 pm Pacific Time Friday, May 31, 2019. Please click here for submittal information.