Nominations are now open for the 2026 Wilson Stewardship Award. The Wilson Award will be presented at the International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum during the Foundation reception (TBC: March 11, 2026).
Nominations will be accepted until December 15, 2025.
The Wilson Stewardship Award is presented by the Foundation to individuals, groups, or projects that have made significant contributions to environmental stewardship in the Rainy-Lake of the Woods watershed through:
- Education, outreach, civic engagement and participation in stewardship initiatives or program development.
- Projects or programs focused on protection, restoration, preservation or reduction of environmental impact and development of sustainable practices.
This award is named in honour of its first recipient, Gerry Wilson, in recognition of her contributions to lake stewardship including development of volunteer monitoring programs, civic engagement and education and cooperative approaches between the public, universities and government agencies.
The Award will be presented at the International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum (March 6-7, 2024) when there’s a deserving recipient as determined by the selection committee.
To submit a nomination for the Wilson Stewardship Award, please send an email to Teika Newton, Executive Director at
- Your name and contact information;
- The name and contact information for the person or group you'd like to nominate;
- A few reasons or examples of how the nominee exemplifies the Award criteria;
- A brief description of how the nominee has contributed to environmental sustainability in the Rainy-Lake of the Woods watershed;
- A brief biography of the person or group you are nominating.
- If you'd like to include other information relevant to the award, please do so.
The selection committee for the Wilson Award consists of water stewardship community leaders from both Canada and the United States. At the recommendation of the selection committee, the Foundation presents the Wilson Award annually at the International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum.
Previous Wilson Award recipients:
- 2025 - Doug Franchot, Voyageurs Conservancy and Community Advisory Group of the IJC International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Board
- 2024 - Paul Anderson, Rainy Lake Conservancy, Voyageurs Conservancy and Community Advisory Group of the IJC International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Board
- 2022 - Not presented
- 2021 – Not presented; virtual Forum due to COVID pandemic
- 2021 – Not presented; virtual Forum due to COVID pandemic
- 2020 – Pauline Gerrard, IISD-Experimental Lakes Area
- 2019 – Two awards: Vermilion Lake Associaton & Lake of the Woods District Stewardship Association
- 2018 – White Iron Chain of Lakes Association (WICOLA)
- 2017 – Not awarded
- 2016 – Todd Sellers, LOWWSF
- 2015 – Dale & Phyllis Callaghan, Rainy Lake Conservancy
- 2014 – Dyke Williams, MN and Lake of the Woods Canada
- 2013 – Kelli Saunders, LOWWSF / K. Saunders Environmental Management
- 2012 – Gerry Wilson, Lake of the Woods District Property Owners Association