05/18/2026
Bluestem Hall Environmentalism Award
OPEN for Nominations! | This award is to celebrate the local grassroots initiative taking place to protect, restore, and/or conserve our natural environment. Bluestem Hall Nature School wants to identify and honor local champions of the Midwest landscape who are invested in a more sustainable, biodiverse, and equitable future. We are looking for individuals who have pioneered projects big and small to better the natural spaces, species, and/or environmental communities around them.
There will be two categories:
-a youth award (for ages 3-18)
-an adult award
Nominations Criteria
All nominees to the Bluestem Hall Environmentalism Award must meet the following criteria:
-The individual has attained a recent, specific environmental achievement
-This achievement was accomplished through grassroots effort and activism
-The individual is a citizen of the East Central Illinois region
Additional Considerations
-Creative pursuits are welcome
-Initiatives/research created as part of a college or high school class are accepted if the nominee can show direct steps taken to bring the work outside the classroom
-A parent/guardian must submit or co-submit the application for the youth award
This award is not designed for folks who have done environmental work as part of paid/hired responsibilities unless those achievements have been made through considerable changemaking initiatives ... .as in the nominee has forged new pathways in their industry for the betterment of the natural world.
Award Ceremony
Recipients of the Bluestem Hall Environmentalism Award will be honored at the 6th Annual BHNS Firefly Show Saturday June 27, 2026. Nominees will be asked to confirm their attendance as part of the award acceptance process. The event will be held on site in Urbana, IL.
Nomination Form: https://bit.ly/3PmOt0x
