Awards and Grants

The purpose of the award is to recognize a member of the CAG for outstanding scholarly work in geography either in the form of sustained contributions over a number of years or as a single major research contribution.

Nominations Procedure

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Past Recipients:

Award for Geography in the Service of Government or Business

Established in 1997 in recognition of the primary importance of excellence in geography in the service of government or business, the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) offers this award to someone who has carried out major work for or in the public or private sector. Normally a nominee would have distinguished himself or herself through the development or application of geographic techniques or tools used in the service of government or business or has a record of achievement for geography in the service of government or business over a long period of time.

Nominations Procedure

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Past Recipients:

Award for Service to the Profession of Geography

This award is intended to recognize a member of the CAG for exceptional professional service over a period of years - for example, in the university training of geographers, in administration or similar activities in the public service, as an officer of a learned society, or in such other ways as have significantly advanced the profession and practice of geography in Canada.

Nominations Procedure

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Past Recipients

Award For Excellence In Teaching Geography

In recognition of the primary importance of teaching excellence in geographic education, the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) offers, since 1997, this award to a member of the CAG who teaches in a recognized university, college, CEGEP or high school. At a minimum, a nominee must be the member of the teaching staff, full or part-time, hired to teach a course in any one year, who has primary responsibility for organizing and presenting course material.Normally, a nominee would be a member of the teaching staff, who has distinguished herself or himself in courses with small and large enrolments, at different levels of instruction, over several years of teaching in the nominating institution.

Nominations Procedure

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Past Recipients

President's Award for Outstanding Service to the Canadian Association of Geographers

The President's Award for Outstanding Service is made with the support of the CAG President to honour an outstanding contribution to the mission of the Canadian Association of Geographers. It recognizes exceptional service to the association, its members, and affiliates by a member of the association. Recipients of the award have gone well beyond their assigned responsibilities and have demonstrated an unusual commitment to the association. The award is intended to acknowledge and publicly celebrate these outstanding contributions, all the while acknowledging that the integrity and dedication the recipients have brought to the association is simply beyond measure. The award was initiated in 2011.

Nominations Procedure

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Past Recipients:

Mary-Louise Byrne, Wilfrid Laurier University, 2011

Ian MacLachlan, University of Lethbridge, 2011

Dan Smith, University of Victoria, 2011

Jean Andrey, University of Waterloo, 2016

K. Wayne Forsythe, Ryerson University, 2017

Lynn Moorman, Beth Dye, Matthew Hatvany, Marie-Pierre Guy-Dorion, Maxwell Bouchard, 2018

Alison Gill, Professor Emerita at Simon Fraser University, 2020

Guy Vincent, Retired Professor, Université de Moncton 2024

The Eric Crighton Mentorship Award

The award will be presented annually by the Canadian Association of Geographers in recognition of exemplary and sustained commitment to mentoring within geography. It serves to recognize the important contributions of individuals to guiding, encouraging, supporting and sparking passion in geography for students and early career scholars.

The award commemorates the contributions of Professor Crighton to supporting and guiding students and early career scholars in their geography studies and careers. Eric was a medical geographer and Professor in Geography, Environment and Geomatics at the University of Ottawa, where his research focused on prenatal, pediatric and Indigenous environmental health. For over 20 years he supported the growth of numerous future geographers who have gone on to their own successful careers in and outside of academia, provided guidance for many early career scholars, and championed the CAG and its study groups as a means to support students across the country.

Criteria 

1. The award recognizes mentorship within the context of Canadian geography. Mentorship is understood as a relational process which shares wisdom, insight, skills, psychosocial support, and career guidance to enable a mentee’s individual growth and goal achievement. This may take the form an individual one-on-one relationship or a collective community relationship, it may be formal or informal.

2. The recipient of the award must be: 

a. A member of the Canadian Association of Geographers, prior to the time of nomination; 

b. A Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

Adjudication 

Recommendations for the award are made to the CAG Executive by the CAG Awards Committee.

Nominations

Nominations are to be made through a letter to the Chair of the CAG Awards Committee, along with the completed cover page (attached) signed by three CAG members in good standing and/or current/former students/trainees, mentees and/or colleagues of the individual being nominated. The letter of nomination should identify the nominee's mentorship contributions and explain why these contributions are significant. Additionally, a minimum of three and a maximum of 10 personal reflection letters (max one page, single spaced) should be included in the package as supporting evidence. These personal reflection letters should outline how the nominee has impacted the individual’s development, career and life, and may be written by CAG members or non-members.

Applicants are encouraged to read the following testimonials provided by peers and mentees of Eric as a way to prepare their application and gauge their nominee’s suitability for the award.

Testimonials

Nominations Procedure

The Julian M. Szeicz Award for Early Career Achievement

The Julian M. Szeicz Award honours the memory and achievement of Dr. Julian M. Szeicz (1965-1998). The award is presented annually by the Canadian Association of Geographers in recognition of research achievement and career potential by a Canadian geographer at an early career stage. The purpose of the award is to foster the development of geographical studies of Canada and to provide recognition of recently established geographical practitioners. See the list of award recipients.

Full citation: 2024-Bisung

Criteria

1. The award recognizes research achievement and career potential in Canadian geography. This may take the form of an original synthesis or regional study, a conceptual development, a significant research advance in a subfield of geography, or the development of a technique.

2. The recipient of the award must be:

A member of the Canadian Association of Geographers, prior to the time of nomination;
A Canadian citizen or landed immigrant;
Within eight years of graduation, normally from a PhD, but in exceptional circumstances from a Master's or Bachelor's programme, on December 31 of the year of the award.

Adjudication

Recommendations for the award are made to the Executive of the Canadian Association of Geographers by the CAG Awards Committee.

Nominations

Nominations are to be made in a letter to the Chair of the CAG Awards Committee, along with the cover page signed by three members of the CAG. The letter of support should identify the nominee's research achievement and explain why it is considered significant. The letter of support, nominee's current curriculum vitae and supporting materials to a maximum of thirty pages should be sent as an e-mail attachment to the CAG office by the 31st of January.

NOTE: Nominees may be nominated multiple times as long as they remain eligible, but a new updated nomination package must be sent each year.

Nominations Procedure

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The Starkey-Robinson Award for Graduate Research on Canada

The Starkey-Robinson Award gives recognition to high quality graduate research that furthers understanding of the geography of Canada. The Award is adjudicated annually by the Awards Committee of the CAG. Eligibility for the Award is based on the completion of a thesis or comparable work at the Masters or Doctoral level at a Canadian University within the preceding 2 years. See the list of recipients.

Full citation: 2024-Gansworth

The CAG will accept ONE nomination for the Award from each Geography department with a graduate program.

Each nomination should include:
1. A brief statement (maximum two pages) outlining the topic and findings of the work, explaining its significance for the geography of Canada.
2. A max 750-word thesis/dissertation abstract.
3. List of scholarly or other contributions and any awards arising from the thesis/dissertation (maximum two pages). For example: peer-reviewed publications (published, in press, accepted only; not ‘submitted’ or ‘in preparation’), completed conference presentations and/or posters, invited seminars, media engagement about the research, creative/artistic knowledge translation strategies, and other public (non-academic) dissemination activities, as well as any awards associated with these dissemination activities (e.g. best paper/best presentation awards).

NOTE: The two-page nomination is typically written by the student’s supervisor.

Each nomination and accompanying documents should be submitted electronically to the CAG office by Departmental Chairs or Graduate Supervisors by January 31st.

The Award is a cash prize, currently a single award of $500. The number and value of awards made annually will be determined from time to time by the Executive Committee of the CAG. In any year, the Awards Committee may decline to make an award.

The Robin P. Armstrong Memorial Prize for Excellence in Indigenous Studies

The Robin P. Armstrong Memorial Prize recognizes and promotes excellence in applied research related to First Nation/Aboriginal/Indigenous peoples in Canada. It was established to commemorate the contribution of Robin P. Armstrong to research on Aboriginal issues within the government of Canada and the CAG. The prize is drawn from a fund established in Robin Armstrong's memory with donations from the Armstrong family and individuals who wish to commemorate Robin and support indigenous studies in this way.

The Indigenous Peoples Working Group (IPWG) of the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) was pleased to award the first Armstrong Memorial Prize in 2002 to Dr. Kathleen Wilson for her Ph.D. dissertation entitled "The Role of Mother Earth in Shaping the Health of Anishinabek: A Geographical Exploration of Culture, Health and Place." See a complete list of recipients here.

The Robin P. Armstrong Memorial Prize for Excellence in Indigenous Studies is awarded to a graduate student in Geography or First Nations/Indigenous Studies for the best Master's or Ph.D. thesis on a research topic related to First Nations/Aboriginal/Indigenous peoples and issues in Canada.

This Award Was Established To:

Recognize and promote excellence in applied research on related to First Nations/Aboriginal/Indigenous peoples in Canada;
Commemorate the contribution of Robin P. Armstrong in undertaking and promoting excellence in geographical research and quantitative analysis on aboriginal issues within the government of Canada and the CAG, and in helping to found the Indigenous Peoples Working Group (formerly the Native Canadians Specialty Group) of the CAG.

The Prize Includes:

A cash prize of $500, based on the funds available in the Robin P. Armstrong Memorial Fund;
Nation-wide publication of the winner's name on the CAG Web site.

Eligibility:
All students who, in the previous two calendar years, have completed a Master's or PhD thesis in First Nations/Indigenous Studies or Geography on research related to First Nations/Aboriginal/Indigenous peoples in Canada.

NOTE: Any student who holds CAG membership in the year prior to the meeting as well as the year in which the meeting takes place is also eligible to apply for a CAG travel grant to present a paper at the annual meeting of the CAG according to the current rules and deadlines of the grant. Deadline for the CAG Travel Grant Application is Feb 15 of each year. It is strongly suggested that students members apply for the travel grant at the same time they apply for the award in order to meet the deadline.

To apply, students must submit:
1. A cover letter
2. A curriculum vitae, and
3. An abstract (1000-1500 words) that outlines

The issue or question studied
Review of related literature
The design or methodology
Findings, statistical results and conclusions
A statement of significance

Applications should be sent by e-mail no later than January 31 to:

Ryan Planche (plan4285[at]mylaurier.ca)
Co-chair, Indigenous Peoples’ Working Group

Selection Criteria Include:

Significance of the issue
Conceptualization, design and execution of the study
Quality of the results
Potential for improving theory, and
General clarity, insight and originality of the work.

Letter from the President, September 2019

Updates/Motions from the CAG Awards Revisions Subcommittee (CAG-ARS),
September 2019

The Starkey-Robinson Award for Graduate Research on Canada

The Robin P. Armstrong Memorial Prize for Excellence in Indigenous Studies

CAG Award for Scholarly Distinction in Geography

The Julian M. Szeicz Award for Early Career Achievement

CAG Award for Geography in the Service of Government or Business

CAG Award for Service to the Profession of Geography

CAG Award for Excellence in Teaching Geography

President's Award for Outstanding Service to the CAG

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Eric Crighton

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About the CAG

Award For Excellence In Teaching Geography

President's Award for Outstanding Service to the Canadian Association of Geographers

The Eric Crighton Mentorship Award

Award Winner Reimbursement Policies

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