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Ecotourism Awards
Winners About the Awards Terms & Conditions Awards Timeline & Winning Projects Implementation

Past Award Winners: 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008

Social & ecological justice does not come about only by online campaigns; offline, field action is also needed. Over the past 5 years, since 2004, on the 1st of July, to celebrate our founding anniversary, we have been funding & part-funding micro eco-projects initiated & implemented by our Members, according to the philosophy and aims of ECOCLUB. You may find information on the funded projects by following the links at the top of this page.

The Winners of the ECOCLUB.com Ecotourism Awards 2009

Jane Crouch - Winning Project in Peru Judy Karwacki - Winning Project in Guyana Manuel Apaza - Winning Project in Honduras
Peru: Water Filters in Chichubamba Community - Jane Crouch Guyana: From Wild to Web
Judy Karwacki
Honduras: Creating a Community Tourism Cooperative - Manuel Apaza

Following a tightly run contest between six worthwhile projects, the 2009 winners were:

Jane Crouch (Intrepid Travel, Australia)
Winning Project: Water Filters in Chichubamba Community - Peru
"Improving the health of the people of Chichubamba South by giving them access to clean drinking water, by providing ceramic water filters and education in their use and maintenance".
arrowProject Proposal Details, Implementation & Discussion
arrowProgress Report - 1 September 2009
arrowCompletion Report - 30 October 2009

Judy Karwacki (Small Planet Consulting, Canada)
Winning Project: From Wild to Web - Guyana
"Ecotourism-linked wildlife monitoring activities by the village Wildlife Club will be enhanced by a dedicated laptop and cameras. Village youth will learn to digitally document field projects, to make web pages, and upload them online"
arrowProject Proposal Details, Implementation & Discussion
arrowProgress Report - 1 September 2009
arrowCompletion Report - 1 November 2009

Manuel Apaza (ICADE, Honduras)
Winning Project: Creating a Community Tourism Cooperative - Honduras
"For a long time the local community of Buenos Aires has handled tourism activities inside the Cusuco National Park in a disorganized way so a local tourism cooperative is proposed as a step forward."
arrowProject Proposal Details, Implementation & Discussion
arrowProgress Report - 1 September 2009
arrow2nd Progress Report - 26 November 2009
arrowCompletion Report
- 8 April 2010

The winners thanked ECOCLUB Members for their trust and pledged a timely implementation of the projects.

In particular, Ms Jane Crouch stated: "Congratulations on 10 years of ECOCLUB!...From my perspective it's an absolute pleasure dealing with such a professionally run, passionate, innovative and informative organisation.  Thank-you for your marvellous work and thank-you for the Award which will make a big difference very soon for the Peruvian community of Chichubamba."

Ms Judy Karwacki and Alice Layton from Rupununi Learners were "thrilled to hear" that the Yupukari Village, Guyana, Wild to Web project had been chosen by Ecoclub members, saying, "this award means that the Wildlife Club will be able to share what we are seeing and learning with our village, our region, and the world!"

Mr Manuel Apaza thanked ECOCLUB Members for the confidence they had placed in them, on behalf of the community of Buenos Aires and added that "our commitment will be to work in the establishment of this tourism cooperative with all our effort to achieve the same success, we have had in other projects. We appreciate this opportunity that you give us to develop the potential of the Buenos Aires community."

As every year, the winning projects implementation and completion will be transparently presented and monitored online at www.ecoclub.com. Projects must be initiated by August 1, 2009 at the latest and completed by November 1, 2009. The on-time implementation of the projects and its documentation, is a pre-condition for the payment of the Award funds.

About the Awards:

Each year, on the 1st of July, to celebrate our founding anniversary, we allocate at least 10% of our revenue (from the previous year�s Membership Fees and eco product sales at the ECOCLUB.com Shop) to fund micro-projects initiated & implemented by our Members, according to the philosophy and aims of ECOCLUB. You may find past winners and projects by following the links on the top of this page.

Building on the lessons & successes of previous years we held our 6th Annual Awards.

Theme:
This year's theme is "Their Crisis, Our Communities - progressive change through Social Ecotourism�.
We asked our Members, tourism professionals, academics & students to undertake innovative projects that help create �another world� at the grass roots level and improve life for all in their communities.

Project Eligibility:
The Awards were open to all Members who were in good standing. Project proposals needed to have a strong social element, be tangible, small-scale and should focused on the local community, improving its life and meeting urgent needs in a direct manner. Projects could not be already under way or co-funded by other sources, and could cost up to 1,000 Euros to implement. Winning projects have to be initiated no later than August 1, 2009 and completed by November 1, 2009. For the full terms please see here.

Prize:
The total ECOCLUB.com Ecotourism Awards 2009 funds amount to Euros 3,000 (approx. USD 4,000) which will be shared by the three winners, who will receive Euros 1,000 each on successful completion of the projects.

Winner Selection:
The winners were determined in a democratic fashion by Members through an email vote (no opaque award juries here!). During the voting period Members were able to post questions in the public Awards forum so as to scrutinise the candidate projects. Each Member had 1 vote, and the three projects that received most votes won the prize. Voters could not change their vote after sending in their email vote while candidates and their employees as well as the ECOCLUB Team were not allowed to vote.

Schedule:
The deadline for receiving completed applications (by email, in text or Word format) was Friday 5 June, 2009. Candidate projects were published online on June 16, and winners were announced on July 1, following a democratic Member vote (no opaque award juries here!) Projects should be initiated by August 1 at the latest and completed by November 1, 2009.

Terms & Forms:
the complete Awards Terms & Conditions (.pdf - 147 KB)
the Awards Application Form (.doc - 105 KB) or (.pdf - 87 KB)


The 2009 Candidates (please follow the links for full details):

A - Manuel Apaza - Honduras: Creating a Community Tourism Cooperative - WINNER
B - Kathleen Edie - Madagascar: Skills Workshop for Women's Association
C - Jane Crouch - Peru: Water Filters in Chichubamba Community - WINNER
D - Andres Hammerman - Ecuador: Renovating Public Library/Computer Centre
E - Ana Victoria Wo Ching - Costa Rica: Permaculture Garden for the Community
F - Judy Karwacki - Guyana: From Wild to Web - WINNER


2009 Awards Timeline:

April 16 - May 31, 2009: Call for Proposals & Submission Deadline

June 1 - 15, 2009: Project evaluation & amendment period

June 16, 2009: Eligible projects posted online at the ECOCLUB.com Ecotourism Awards 2009 Forum.

June 16 - 30, 2009: Members vote by email - See full results

July 1, 2009: On the 10th anniversary of ECOCLUB, the winners were announced in a live Member meeting.

August 1, 2009: Deadline for project initiation.

September 1, 2009: Deadline for receiving first Progress Reports.

November 1, 2009: Deadline for receiving Project Completion Reports.

November 2009 - June 2010: Review of supporting evidence and payment of award funds. In December 2009 the grant payment was made to the Jane Crouch & Judy Karwacki projects which were successfully completed. In June 2010 the grant payment was made to the Manuel Apaza project in Honduras, which was delayed by extraordinary political events in that country.


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