About The Award
The Phoenix Awards recognize destinations, individuals, organizations, governments and firms that have made exemplary efforts at environmental, cultural and/or historical conservation, preservation and beautification of tourism sites. SATW established the Award in 1969 to recognize these goals. SATW members can nominate individuals, organizations, governments and tourism providers who have contributed to a quality travel experience. Nominations are reviewed by the SATW Phoenix Committee and submitted with recommendations to the Board of Directors for final approval.
Tourism is defined as any trip of 50 or more miles from one’s primary residence, other than for commuting to work or school, and/or any trip involving an overnight stay. To qualify for the award, tourism must be documented. As tourism has evolved with global impact and the evidence of global climate change, the Phoenix Award now acknowledges efforts that encourage responsible, sustainable environmental practices as they relate to travel.
Make A Nomination
The SATW Phoenix Award for Environmental, Cultural and Historical Tourism is SATW’s highest recognition bestowed to individuals, businesses, organizations and communities who have demonstrated exceptional efforts in preserving, conserving, beautifying or protecting the historic, cultural and natural resources of an area. Established in 1969, the SATW Phoenix Awards was one of the first programs to acknowledge the importance of resource stewardship. These tangible results enhance the economic, socio-cultural heritage, and/or environmental benefits to the destination and its value to travelers of today and tomorrow. The Phoenix Awards and their SATW nominators are announced during the Society’s Annual Convention, followed by award ceremonies conducted locally for the winners.
SATW members are invited to nominate individuals, communities, for-profit businesses or non-profit organizations that have contributed to a quality travel experience through proven conservation, preservation, beautification or environmental efforts. Nominations describing the evolution of worthy projects are considered by the SATW Phoenix Committee and submitted with recommendations to the Board of Directors for final approval.
The nomination form is in two parts. The first section is about the “nominee” for the Phoenix Award. The second section specifically relates to you, the nominator. We encourage nominators to interview nominees or ask nominees for information/assistance with the questions on this form. More detailed information strengthens the nomination. Along with inspiring images, consider including quotes by local or international personalities that speak to the importance or worthiness of the nominee, as well as copies of clippings by writers that extoll its importance. Completing the nomination form in its entirety also provides greater insights and information for the committee to review. Nominations are evaluated on:
- Quality and scope of preservation/beautification/conservation/environmental project
- Community involvement/partnerships
- Impact on local community
- Degree of difficulty to accomplish the preservation/conservation/enhancement effort
MUST READ BEFORE SUBMITTING NOMINATION
- The deadline to submit applications has been extended to Sunday, June 30, 2024
- Prepare your answers in advance. There is a timeout on each page after 20 minutes. Therefore, we recommend reviewing the form in advance to help prepare for your submission. It is convenient to write your responses on a word document and paste them into the form.
- Please submit six horizontal photographs, keeping the data size of each image to between 3 and 5 MB. There is an absolute threshold of 20 MB of storage capacity in this form. If you have greater than 20 MB of photos uploaded the form will not be processed correctly. Although optional, we recommend submitting at least one video, which should be horizontal and can be taken on a phone. (The videos greatly enhance the awards presentation video and beautifully showcase the subject.)
- Your nomination will be disqualified if you (the nominator) have any known association with the applicant (either as an employee/employer, client, associate, or other professional relationship). You are encouraged to find another member to nominate this entity for consideration if you have a business relationship with an entity that you think deserves a Phoenix nomination.
- Meeting the nomination criteria: The Phoenix Award follows the UNWTO definition of tourism as “the activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business, and other purposes.” Tourism is defined as any trip of 50 or more miles from one’s primary residence, other than for commuting to work or school, and/or any trip involving an overnight stay. To qualify for the award, tourism must be documented. A local destination which does not attract a significant part of its visitation from 50 or more miles away does not qualify for the award.
The Phoenix Award recognizes destinations, individuals, organizations, governments and firms that have made exemplary efforts at environmental, cultural and/or historical conservation or preservation of tourism destinations.
Besides leisure destinations and activities, the Phoenix Award also recognizes destinations, organizations and people that cultivate travel for medical, business or social/fraternal/religious purposes, including meetings and conventions.
Winning a Phoenix Award is prestigious and the winner’s Public Relations contact information is requested so that there can be follow-up regarding the promotion of award winners throughout a large network of like-focused organizations.
Nominators should also consider volunteering to assist in the promotion of their nominee after the awards have taken place. SATW has a “tool kit” to assist a winner in including the Phoenix Award logo in their messaging, and we can broaden the appreciation of the value of the Phoenix Award.
Questions? Reach out to Toby Saltzman or Tonya Fitzpatrick with the subject “Phoenix Award nominations”.
2024 Phoenix Award Winners
Previous Winners
Previous winners of this prestigious award include:
- Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
- Herring Era Museum
- Inkaterra Hotels
- Monterey Bay Aquarium
- Shreveport Common
- Adventure Canada
- Iron Ore Heritage Trail
- United States Civil Rights Trail
- Yangzhou Historic District and Gardens
- Guachimontones Archeological Site and Interpretive Center
- Gulf State Park
- Falls Park on the Reedy
- Kingsbrae Garden
- Ewald Biemans
- International Expeditions
- Zakouma National Park in Chad, Africa
- Toronto’s Distillery Historic District
- The Shorefast Foundation and Fogo Island Inn
- Appalachian Mountain Club Maine Wilderness Lodges
- Glenfern Sanctuary in New Zealand
- USAID’s Nyungwe Nziza Project in Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park
- The Old Mill and Old Mill Square in Pigeon Forge, TN
- San Antonio’s Pearl Brewery
- Charleston (SC) City Market
- Dr. Mary Majka
- Mary’s Point Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve (Canada)
- Railroad Park in Birmingham (AL)
- Kula Eco Park in Fiji
- The Trailing of the Sheep Festival
- Restoration of Edison & Ford Winter Estates (FL)
- Tourism Cares for America
- La Dune de Boutouche (New Brunswick, Canada)
- Maine Huts and Trails
- Gerding Theatre (OR)
- The Quays (Manchester, England)
- World Birding Center (TX)
- Colonial Theatre in the Berkshires
- N/a’an Ke Sê Foundation in Namibia
- Central Park Conservancy (NY)