ECOCLUB.com > ECOCLUB.com Ecotourism Awards™

the alternative ecotourism awards funding micro-projects
which promote genuine Ecotourism and ecological & social change in Tourism!

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

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

The Winners of the ECOCLUB.com Ecotourism Awards 2009
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 are:

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".
Project Proposal Details, Implementation & Discussion

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
Project Proposal Details, Implementation & Discussion

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.
Project Proposal Details, Implementation & Discussion

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 & Winning Projects Implementation Schedule:

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.

(Reports will be posted here when they are received from progress organisers)

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

November 2009 - January 2010: Review of supporting evidence and payment of award funds.

Ecotourism Awards Supporters

Do you wish to support ecological tourism projects which improve the well-being of communities?  Do you wish to assist us in expanding the reach, quality & quantity of our ecotourism awards (grants) program? Become an ECOCLUB.com Ecotourism Awards Supporter!

ECOCLUB dedicates at least 10% of Membership fees & shop sale proceeds to the annual Ecotourism Awards, raising Euros 3,000 (approx. USD 4,000) annually. In this current crisis climate, with many small operators and communities expecting to take a direct hit from reduced travel, we felt we have to do better than that. For this reason we decided in Spring 2009 to invite donors and expand our Awards program.

We pledge that at least 90% of your contribution will be directly allocated to a project, with only 10% allocated for award administration costs. We take pride in operating with as much transparency as possible and you will be able, like all visitors to our websites, to monitor the project progress as it happens, and see how award funds are allocated. You will also be taking part in deciding which projects will be funded through your vote. (Each Member and Supporter has 1 vote, project proposals that receive most votes are implemented).

There are three standard levels of support. To become an ECOCLUB.com Ecotourism Awards Supporter, please use the links below to make your donation securely online via PayPal.

	Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) 500 Euros Become a 'Golden Eagle' Supporter
	Silvery Kingfisher (Alcedo argentata) 300 Euros Become a 'Silvery Kingfisher' Supporter
	Bronze Sunbird (Nectarinia kilimensis) 100 Euros Become a 'Bronze Sunbird' Supporter

Supporter Benefits:

All Supporters will be recognized on this page, in the ECOCLUB.com Ecotourism Awards Section, http://www.ecoclub.com/awards.html in the corresponding year. We will mention your name and/or the name of your organization (if the donation is from a legal entity),  your city and country, and a link to your website. If you do not wish your name to be made public, we will write “unnamed donor”, and the city and country instead.

All Supporters will also receive benefits equivalent to those of Professional Members for 1 Year. (Kindly note however that Supporters are not allowed to participate in the ECOCLUB.com Awards as candidates)