2025 “Preservation at Its Best Awards”: Nomination Guidelines
EMAIL SUBMISSION DEADLINE: April 15, 2024
Preservation Iowa, a statewide non-profit advocate for historic preservation, welcomes nominations to honor preservation success stories across the state through our Annual Preservation at its Best (PAIB) Awards. An independent jury selects award recipients. Awards will be presented at the 2025 Preserve Iowa Summit to be held on June 5-7, 2025, in Muscatine. There is no fee to submit a nomination.
NOMINATION FORM DOWNLOADS (Note – you may need to RIGHT-CLICK on the link and select “Download” or “Save As”. Contact jim@coachdavies.net if you have technical difficulties):
- Nomination Instructions (PDF)
- Part 1 – Project Information (docx)
- Part 2 – Project Team Contact Information (xlsx)
- Part 3 – Project Photos (pptx)
ELIGIBILITY
- To qualify for a PAIB Award, a project must:
Demonstrate outstanding achievement in the field of historic preservation. - Be located in Iowa and be completed between January 1, 2023, and March 30, 2025.
- Construction projects (rehabilitation, restoration, adaptive reuse) should meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
Property owner(s) must be notified by the nominator before submission of the nomination, so they can be notified of the nomination status.
CATEGORIES
Adaptive / Mixed Reuse Award recognizes: Conversion of a historic structure for a new or
compatible use or mixed use while retaining its architectural integrity.
Commercial Awards honor: Rehabilitation or restoration of a historic commercial structure (up
to 5,000 sq. ft. or over 5,000 sq. ft.).
Community Award honors: A community’s concerted effort to save a historic structure, district,
or cultural resource.
Martha Hayes Preservationist of the Year Award honors: An individual or group that has
championed historic preservation planning, policy, or activities in Iowa.
Maurice Losely Sacred Place Award honors: Rehabilitation, restoration, or reuse of a sacred or
holy site, ground, space, place, structure, etc.
Paula Mohr Certified Local Government of the Year Award honors: Invaluable contributions by
an individual or organization to Iowa’s CLG Program and to historic preservation locally,
statewide, regionally, and nationally.
Public / Non-Profit Structure Award recognizes: Rehabilitation or restoration of a publicly,
government, or non-profit owned structure.
Residential Award honors: Rehabilitation or restoration and continued use of a residential
structure.
Rural Preservation Award recognizes: Preservation or restoration in a rural cultural landscape,
heritage, or built environment.
Special Projects Award recognizes: Films, books, websites, podcasts, plays, etc. that tell Iowa’s
stories and promote the preservation of Iowa’s historic resources.
Sustainability in Preservation Award recognizes: Incorporation of sustainable practices into the
rehabilitation or restoration of a historic structure.
JUDGING
Preservation Iowa invites a jury of preservation experts to review nominations for the Preservation at Its Best Awards. This panel of judges will also place nominations in their respective categories to give each project its highest scoring potential.
Projects will be judged on degree of historic preservation excellence, community impact, quality of work completed and thoroughness of the nomination submitted. Honorable mentions or multiple awards may be given if decided upon by the panel of judges.
Check out some past winning nominees on the Preservation Iowa website at: http://www.preservationiowa.
MAKE YOUR ENTRY STAND OUT TO THE JUDGES
Tell a compelling, succinct story that demonstrates the impact of your project. The PAIB Awards convey the value of historic preservation to a statewide audience. Successful nominations make a persuasive case for the importance of their project’s story, encompassing its: historical context, specific goals and challenges, benefits to the people in the community and in Iowa, and lessons learned.
Describe the project’s scope of work clearly and completely. If you are nominating a project with multiple components, please include an explanation of each of the project’s elements. Remember to coordinate with other members of the project team, if needed.
Use a range of descriptive, high-quality photos. The photos in the nomination are often the only way that the jury can visualize a project. In addition to historic views and before/after shots, please include photos of the project in process and with people in them, as these will help bring the story to life.
NOMINATION FEE
There are no nomination fees.
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
YOUR Project’s Name should be used in the names of your nomination files.
**Please do not label your folder “2024 Preservation Awards.”
Submit one (1) copy of your completed nomination consisting of the following three (3) parts:
- Part 1. Project Information file named “1_Project Information_YOUR Project’s Name”
- Part 2. Project Team Contact Information file named “2_Project Team_YOUR Project’s Name”
- Part 3. Project Photos file named “3_Project Photos_YOUR Project’s Name”
Our preference is to receive your completed Nomination as one email with a nomination zip file labeled with YOUR Project’s Name, or one email with the three (3) parts attached. If these options won’t work for you, the nomination may be sent as three (3) emails with one part attached to each email.
EMAIL DEADLINE: Friday, April 25, 2025 to jim@coachdavies.net We confirm receipt of all nominations via email. If you do not receive confirmation within 48 hours, please contact Jim Davies at jim@coachdavies.net or by phone or text at 641-425-4707.
Submission of a nomination gives Preservation Iowa permission to use the information in our programming. Submission of a nomination does not guarantee a project will be selected for an award.
