LCVA Tourism Awards

The LCVA Tourism Awards Program showcases the work, service, creativity, and contributions of individuals and organizations as it relates to tourism promotion.  Take advantage of this opportunity to acknowledge those key individuals and programs that deserve recognition and thanks for their valuable contributions and success. 

The 2006 LCVA Tourism Awards wil be given at the LCVA's Annual Meeting on March 30, 2007 when we celebrate tourism in our community. The deadline to submit nominations for the 2006 Tourism Awards is Friday, January 26, 2007.
 
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Judging Criteria
Employee of the Year (Individual Award)
Volunteer of the Year (Individual Award)
Humanitarian Award (Individual Award)
Tourism Event of the Year (Program Award)
Tourism Promotion/Campaign of the Year (Program Award)
Judy Patterson Tourism Award (Individual or Program Award)
Entry Guidelines
Previous Award Recipients

Judging Criteria
All award entries must be for individuals, organizations, or programs that recognize accomplishments for activities that occurred or were completed during 2006.  An LCVA Awards Committee will be judging the LCVA Tourism Awards entries in December and January.  Typically one award is presented in each category, however, the judges may recognize more than one entry for a particular category, or none if no entry is deemed worthy.  The judges may also re-categorize any entry.  You may be contacted during the judging process for additional information.

Tourism Employee of the Year: Management
Tourism Employee of the Year: Non-Management
These categories recognize that our employees in management and non-management positions make a difference and contribute to our tourism destination success.  Those employees who go beyond their typical job description to improve a visitor's experience should be nominated.  The evaluation and criteria should include as many of the following as possible:

• The daily opportunity the employee has to impact a visitor's experience.
• The specific example or significance of ongoing service that led you to nominate the employee.
• Letters from customers complimenting the employee.
• How the level of service provided to visitors exceeds their job performance standards.

Download nomination form for Tourism Employee of the Year: Management

Download nomination form for Tourism Employee of the Year: Non-Management

• The significance of the volunteer contribution to the success of the tourism program.
• The type of contribution, i.e. leadership, in-kind services, time contribution, etc.
• The duration of service; did the individual volunteer for 3 days, 3 months, or 3 years?

Download nomination form for Tourism Volunteer of the Year

Humanitarian Award
This category recognizes the contribution of an individual or an organization from the tourism industry for their service in aiding and assisting others.  The humanitarian efforts may include volunteer hours, corporate support for volunteerism, relief efforts, or specific campaigns or programs that serve a local, regional, national, or global population in need of assistance.  The need can range from hunger and health issues to literacy to natural disasters and the environment.

Nominees should exhibit humanitarian qualities such as honesty, integrity, responsibility, compassion, and courage, and an exemplary commitment of time and energy serving others.

The evaluation and criteria should include as many of the following as possible:

• Impact of the service to others, i.e. economic, socioeconomic, physical, etc.
• Amount of time and effort dedicated to the service of others.
• Increased awareness for a cause or need through media coverage, letters, speeches, etc.

Download nomination for the Humanitarian Award

Tourism Event of the Year
This category recognizes an event that attracted visitors to Loudoun County and/or its incorporated towns to  participate in and attend the event.  The evaluation and criteria should include as many of the following as possible:

• The lasting benefit the event had on the community such as a positive economic impact, an improvement to the community, or an improvement in quality of life for Loudoun's residents.
• The level of community support through volunteers, corporate sponsorships, and civic group participation.
• The positive value of the event to the customer in terms of the event as a whole, entertainment, length of time to experience the event, desire to attend multiple days (if applicable), and cost per ticket.
• The number of overnight rooms generated in local hotels, bed and breakfasts, and inns as a result of the event.
• The promotion of the event to out-of-county visitors in terms of creativity, effectiveness, and results.

Download nomination form for Tourism Event of the Year

Tourism Promotion/Campaign of the Year
Entries in this category may include marketing, promotion, and/or public relations promotions and campaigns.  This category recognizes creativity, innovation, clearly stated objectives and how those are measured, and the demonstrated results from the program.  The evaluation and criteria should include as many of the following as possible:

• The stated objectives and anticipated results.
• The creative design, innovation of the program, and message.
• The implementation process.
• The results from the program; did it reach the targeted audience?

Download nomination form for Tourism Promotion/Campaign of the Year  

Judy Patterson Tourism Award
This is the LCVA's highest award honor.  Judy Patterson was a founding board member of the LCVA and a creative, innovative, tourism professional with a passion for Loudoun County, its towns, historic sites, and tourism opportunities.  The LCVA Board of Directors established this award to honor individuals and organizations who exhibit a passion for tourism and contribute to the tourism industry a legacy by which they will be remembered.  The evaluation and criteria should include as many of the following as possible:

• The level of contribution to the tourism industry such as a significant economic impact, multiple years of contributions, the outcome of the contribution and its opportunity for benefits to the tourism industry, etc.
• The legacy of the contribution.  What will people say about this individual, organization, or program in 20 years as they recall the impact of this nominee to the tourism industry?
• The passion, enthusiasm, drive, momentum, team-building ability, etc. of the individual or organization as it relates to tourism industry accomplishments.
• What makes this nominee's contribution significant and outstanding to the tourism industry when compared to other tourism industry individuals or organizations?

Download nomination form for the Judy Patterson Tourism Award

Entry Guidelines

1. Select the appropriate category.  All award entries must be for individuals, organizations, or programs that recognize accomplishments for activities that occurred or were completed during the 2006 calendar year. Programs that were launched in 2006 that are on-going and do not yet have results or accomplishments should wait until the 2007 awards. 
2. Complete the LCVA Tourism Awards Entry Form using the following criteria to complete the entries.  Be as brief as possible and address all the elements that will be judged.
   Objectives:  Clearly describe the objectives for the program, campaign, or activity so that the judges may determine how well the stated results met the objectives. 
   Execution:  Describe the implementation of the program, campaign, or activity with reference to techniques used, tactics undertaken, and any difficulties encountered and overcome.  Identify any partners and their roles.   Specify the target audience for programs and events.  (The role of an individual should be described as it relates to execution if appropriate.)
   Impact/Results:   State the results achieved, for example, visitor count increase, increased return on investment, increase in public awareness, increase in economic impact, and other related data.  Describe how the results met or exceeded the expectations and whenever possible quantify the results available at the time of submission.  (For individuals, describe how the individual influenced the results.)
3. Gather detailed information or collateral materials that support the summary, including brochures, inserts, posters, videos, clippings, letters from customers, etc. 
4. Gather photos of the individual, event, or program to be used in the nominee video that will be shown during the LCVA Annual Meeting. It is preferred that these be digital images. 
5. Submit 10 copies of the entry as well as all supporting materials and photos to the LCVA no later than 5pm on Friday, January 19, 2007:
   LCVA
   222 Catoctin Circle, SE, Suite 100
   Leesburg, VA 20175
   Fax: 703-771-4973 

Please note that all entry materials become the property of the LCVA and may not be returned. 

Previous Award Recipients

Tourism Event of the Year
1999 - Waterford Homes Tour & Crafts Exhibit
2000 - Potomac Celtic Festival
2001 - PONY National Softball Tournament
2002 - 59th Annual Waterford Homes Tour & Crafts Exhibit
2003 - Middleburg Kennel Club All-Breed Dog Show
2004 - Hunt Country Antiques Fair
2005 - 2005 PONY National Softball Tournament

Tourism Volunteer of the Year
1999 - Bronwen Souder, Waterford Foundation
2000 - David Meyer and Mary Lou Bertola, Lower Loudoun Girls Softball League and PONY National Tournament
2001 - Dale Polen Myers, Babe Ruth World Series
2002 - Pam and Don McMurray, Loudoun County Bed & Breakfast Guild
2004 - Carl Fischer, Arts in the Alley & Purcellville Holiday Celebration
2005 - Kate Zurschmeide, Great Country Farms & Chair, Rural Economic Development Commission
2005 - Robert Gordon, Loudoun Commercial Title & Chair, Zoning Ordinance Review Committee

Tourism Employee of the Year
1999 - Veronica Fuentes, Holiday Inn Washington Dulles
1999 - Holly Bryant, Fairfield Inn
2000 - Carmen Machado, Homestead Village Dulles
2000 - Mary Suddeuth, Executive Conference & Training Center
2001 - Mike Doyle, Virginia Coach
2002 - Edin Huskic, Comfort Suites Leesburg
2003 - Kevin Jackson, Hampton Inn & Suites Leesburg
2004 - Ana Ruth Dominguez, Hampton Inn Washington Dulles Airport
2005 - Gilbert Charite, Raspberry Falls Golf & Hunt Club
2005 - Jackie Gosses, Hampton Inn & Suites Leesburg

Tourism Promotion/Campaign of the Year
1999 - Middleburg Bucks
2000 - Lansdowne Food & Wine Camp
2001 - The Chile Man
2002 - Loudoun Wine Trail Guide
2004 - Loudoun Museum, Hauntings
2004 - Patowmack Farm, Dinner in the Garden
2005 - Dodona Manor Opening

Judy Patterson Tourism Award
1998 - Stephen P. Hines
1999 - Federal Per Diem Task Force
2000 - Lou Canonico
2001 - James Wilding
2002 - Frances Raflo
2003 - Leo Schefer, Washington Airports Task Force
2004 - Waterford Foundation
2005 - Linda Callagy, The Potomac Gallery

In addition to the competitive awards, the LCVA gives awards to those individuals, businesses, and programs that made significant contributions to the LCVA and the tourism industry throughout the year.

Partner of the Year
2002 - Holly Heider Chapple Flowers
2003 - Celebrations Catering and Events and Whitehall Manor
2004 - Old Dominion Brewing, Co.
2005 - BF Saul Hotel Group

Distinguished Service Awards
2002 - Dee Dee Hubbard, Lost Mountain Graphics, Connie Fletcher, Bill Gallant
2004 - Temple Hall Farm MAiZE & Fall Festival of Farming Fun