Delaware Geographic Service Award
Deadline for submitting nominations is February 6, 2012
About the Award
The Delaware GIS Conference is proud to continue a tradition that began in 2005: the Delaware Geographic Service Award, presented in memory of the late Vernon C. Svatos. The Delaware Geographic Service Award is presented to an individual or group that has demonstrated outstanding service to the Delaware Geospatial Community. The intention of the award is to recognize those who, either through a single effort or project or through consistent commitment, have supported and/or fostered our geospatial community.
Download the nomination form here
About Vernon C. Svatos 
Vern C. Svatos was one of the early pioneers of GIS in Delaware. When GIS was in its infancy in the 1970’s Vern worked on the first GIS projects with the Water Resources Agency (WRA) for New Castle County. Then in the later part of his career at the University of Delaware, Vern demonstrated a commitment to the continuance of geographic knowledge and to the education and training of young people in the field he greatly loved and believed in. His untimely passing was a great loss to the Delaware Geospatial Community, but his memory lives on in the hearts of the many whose lives he touched.
Eligibility
Any individual or group is eligible for this award. The successful nominee must have made significant service-based contributions to other individuals, organizations, or activities within the State of Delaware related to the use or advancement of GIS or geospatial data. These contributions should have been during the recent past in one or more categories listed under Criteria.
Criteria
Service-based contributions from the nominees must be related to one or more of the following criteria:
- Leadership and coordination
- Mentoring and guidance
- Technological development advances
- Technical training
- Policy advances
- Public outreach
- Educational leadership for future generations
- General service to Delaware's public, academic, or governmental geospatial communities
Nomination and Selection Process
The Geographic Service Award is given out during the statewide Delaware GIS Conference, held every 18-24 months. The Geographic Service Award Committee is comprised of past award recipients and oversees the award process and decision. The final selection of the awardee is done through an anonymous online voting process just prior to the conference. The Award Committee chair should be member of the Delaware GIS Conference Committee for the corresponding Conference.
- The open nomination period starts about 3 months before the Conference. The exact date and nomination procedure will be posted on the Delaware GIS Conference web site. Self-nominations are not allowed.
- The Award Committee reviews the submissions and accepts all nominees who meet the eligibility criteria.
- The Award Committee chair notifies the accepted nominees. They are asked to submit a vita or other supporting documents to the chair.
- Nominees’ biographical sketches are standardized by the Award Committee and posted to the Conference web site.
- The open voting period will last approximately 3 weeks.
- The nominee with the most votes will be selected as the award recipient. Ties will be broken by the Award Committee.
- The winner will be announced during the Conference.
An individual award recipient will be invited to serve on future Service Award Committees and will receive a complimentary registration for the next Conference.
In the case of a group award, three complimentary registrations to the next Conference will be offered to the group, and for each successive Conference, the group may be represented on the Award Committee by one group member of the group’s choosing.
Previous Award Recipients
2010 Dick Sacher, University of Delaware, IT-CS&S
2008 Nicole Minni, University of Delaware, IPA, WRA
2007 John Callahan, University of Delaware, RDMS
2006 William Schenck, Delaware Geological Survey
2005 Michael Mahaffie, Office of State Planning Coordination
