EXCELLENCE IN THE LANDSCAPE AWARDS

PURPOSE
NCNLA’s EXCELLENCE IN THE LANDSCAPE AWARDS program reflects our commitment to the creation and preservation of the beauty of our landscape. The program is designed to recognize and make awards to those landscape professionals who execute quality landscape projects, and to recognize citizens who underwrite such work. In sponsoring the awards program, NCNLA is striving to increase public awareness of environmental improvement through quality landscaping, and to encourage the landscape contractors’ consistent use of quality materials and workmanship.

ELIGIBILITY
All applicants are eligible to enter into the Awards program.

ENTRY DEADLINES
All entries must be received by 5 p.m. on September 12, 2008 at the
North Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association office, 968 Trinity Road, Raleigh, NC 27607.

AWARDS
Each entry may be awarded a GRAND, MERIT, or DISTINCTION Award based upon the judging criteria. A BEST OF SHOW Award will be selected from the winning GRAND entries. The winners will be awarded at a special event held in conjunction with the JC Raulston Arboretum in the Fall of 2007. What a great way to increase company recognition and employee morale! Digital photos of winning entries and their descriptive texts will become a permanent part of the NCNLA collection and will be sent to local and national industry publications for recognition. They will also be shown to various trade, professional, civic and educational groups throughout the year.

JUDGING
A panel of professionals in the landscape field will evaluate all descriptive information and photos. All entries will be judged on their attention to detail, degree of difficulty and overall appearance.
Exterior and interior installation categories will also be judged on the quality of plant material, quality of plant material installation, quality of construction work, and attention to drainage and finish grade. Exterior installation projects will also be judged on the quality of the turf.
Design/Build entries will be judged on the design program, degree of comprehensiveness or scope of design, design and execution of construction details, selection and location of plant material, the
harmony of design with surroundings, and the criteria for exterior or interior installation.
Exterior Maintenance will be judged on the quality of the turf, condition of plant material, pruning of plant material, seasonal color treatment, and the mulch and surface treatment of planting beds.
Interior Maintenance will be judged on the pruning of plant material, freedom from insect or disease damage, mulch or surface treatment of beds and planters, seasonal color, and the luster, color and condition of trees and plantings.
Craftsmanship will be judged on the execution of construction details, structural integrity and the quality of materials.
Special events will be judged on the overall appearance and degree of difficulty of the project.
Ecological Plantings will be judged by the quality of plant material and installation as well as its function within the environment.

HOW TO ENTER
Complete the entry form. Be sure to include all relevant information.
A master plan must be submitted with each entry form. It should indicate the scale, orientation and the designer. A maximun of fifteen (15) digital photos and a minimum of ten (10) will be allowed for each entry. No company names of logos can appear on the photos, so judges can be impartial. Photos should clearly display the quality of material and workmanship involved; resolution must be at least 300 DPI. “In-progress” photos of the project should be included. Photo description (description limited to four (4) lines maximum) should be on the disk and correspond with accompanying photo. Entries must conform to the guidelines or they will not be considered. Each entry must be submitted in a sealed envelope with the company name and the appropriate category marked on the outside. One entry per envelope or package. Entries must be received by 5:00 p.m. September 7, 2007. Entries (or incomplete entries) received after this deadline will not be judged. All entries become the property of NCNLA and may be used for publication or for any other purpose the Association deems appropriate. All material submitted for judging must be cleared for release upon submission. NCNLA will accept no responsibility for copyrights or photographic fees.
All information must be submitted on a formatted disk or CD.

Click here for a 2008 Application