CDCR seeks nominations for 2017 awards

The Community Design Center Rochester is accepting nominations for the seventh annual 2017 Reshaping Rochester Awards, officials announced Tuesday. The awards are meant to recognize projects and initiatives that have a positive impact on communities in the Finger Lakes region.

Nominations are needed for two awards:

The Betty Strasenburgh Award for Activism: Named in honor of a longtime Rochester activist and philanthropist, this award recognizes civic spirit, persistence and determination in turning a vision into reality. Judges will consider:

• Passion, endurance and advocacy to advance a difficult undertaking that may have included many steps and phases;
• Actions to achieve a change to meet a community’s needs;
• Efforts that achieved an unambiguous, visible and significant change in a place;
• Commitment to involve community members, who then also pursued challenging paths

Robert Macon Award for Urban Innovation: This award honors the late architect Robert Macon’s contributions to the Rochester area. He is remembered for his civic contributions and transformative projects that spanned a 30-year career. Eligible projects may be new designs or reuses of existing structures. Judges will consider:

• Excellence in a building, development or planning effort that solved a design or reuse problem in a distinctive way;
• The extent to which the completed project or established program demonstrates enduring and notable design or replicable reuse standards;
• Application of technical solutions to a problem, including the use of quality materials; and
• Ability to integrate seamlessly into a community’s context.

The Joni Monroe Award is nominated by the CDC Rochester board of directors in honor of founder and former CDC Rochester executive director. The award recognizes efforts that advance the vibrancy of the public realm, officials said.

Nominations can be submitted here. All nominations are due by 5 p.m. on Sep. 15.

An awards ceremony is slated for Nov. 16.

Follow Kerry Feltner on Twitter: @KerryFeltner

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