The Achievement Award is presented to a FOCA member Association each year to celebrate the successes of the FOCA community, and encourage sharing of best-practices.
Nominate your FOCA-member association for the next Achievement Award!
Apply NOW or by October 30th at the latest.
Large or small associations can apply, and accomplishments should be current, but can include long-standing efforts that have recently reached a new milestone or highlight.
Click to download the FOCA Achievement Award Nomination Form (PDF; 3 pages) which is a fillable form you can complete, save to your computer, and email to FOCA as an attachment.
Important Dates & Details:
- Nominations can be submitted until October 30th of the year.
- The award recipient will be announced the following February, and the award is presented in person at the FOCA Annual General Meeting in March. (Save the date! FOCA’s next AGM will be on Saturday, March 2, 2024 in Toronto and by webinar.)
- A representative of the association is asked to attend the AGM to present a brief presentation about the work undertaken.
Criteria for Nomination:
Nominees must be current FOCA member Associations in good standing.
Nominees’ activities must be consistent with FOCA’s Vision of “thriving and sustainable waterfronts across Ontario” and in-line with FOCA’s Strategic Priorities:
Activities or achievements should be current, although they can be long-standing programs, and should relate to at least one of the following categories:
Nominations are welcomed from individuals, associations, umbrella organizations, municipal/county/provincial government employees, conservancies and any other interested parties.
Nominations consist of a completed nomination form (see link above) and any additional support documents deemed significant by the nominee. Recipients of the award will be selected primarily based upon the documentation submitted with the Nomination form.
March 4, 2023: the 2022 FOCA Achievement Award was presented to the Wolfe Lake Association – Westport!
The Wolfe Lake Association – Westport (Frontenac County) was celebrated for their “Let’s Get the Lead Out” initiative and lead fishing tackle buy-back program.
This voluntary program was launched in 2022; by the end of the year, they had already collected over 100 pounds of lead, keeping this source of contamination out of the waterway. They also galvanized neighbouring lake associations to join their initiative including Upper Rideau Lake, Chaffey’s Area Lakes Association, Otter Lake, Charleston Lake, and also the Temagami Lake Association. A grant from South Frontenac Township helped to fund $10 vouchers for each person who turned in lead fishing tackle.
Learn more online at fishleadfree.ca.
Related News Coverage: listen on Blue Fish Radio (April 2023) – the discussion of “Get the Lead Out” starts around minute 31 of the recording.
In addition to the Achievement Award itself, FOCA gave out 4 Honourable Mentions for the following 2022 lake association accomplishments:
- Kamaniskeg Area Property Owners (Renfrew County) for raising just under $150,000 over the past decade for the local hospital foundation to fund critical equipment, from the Association’s annual Poker Run which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2022.
- Menominee Lake Association (District of Muskoka), who celebrated their association’s 50th anniversary, reviving their regatta and boat parade after the pandemic, and undertaking a variety of citizen science programs including Lake Partner Program water sampling, participating in FOCA’s IsampleON program, blue-green algae monitoring, and the ‘Love your Lake’ program. A special “call out” was made to Hanna Marshall, a youth volunteer who ran some of the 2022 programming.
- Kennisis Lake Cottage Owners Association (Haliburton County), for undertaking a “dock etiquette” program and a dock clean-up initiative in 2022 led by 27 volunteers who dismantled abandoned docks that threatened lake navigation.
- > Read related media coverage: July 18, 2023 – Cottagers on Kennisis Lake start education campaign to discourage abandoning docks (Cottage Life)
- Talpines Property Owners Association (Simcoe County), for coordinating a community garden to create a place for people to connect with each other and nature in a safe way. With the assistance of an indigenous advisor on the project, the garden supports local efforts for Truth and Reconciliation: the garden contains the four Sacred Medicines of the Anishinaabeg (tobacco, cedar, sage, and sweetgrass), and the ‘Three Sisters’ of Haudenosaunee origin (corn, beans, and squash) as a model for building community, because the Three Sisters are all different but they cooperate in a way that produces more food than if they were planted alone.
Congratulations, all! Please keep sharing your association success stories with FOCA.
Wondering about past Award winners?
Read more about recent winners, below.
Review a brief synopsis of winners from 1996 through 2015, in the video at the side.
Congratulations to the 2021 FOCA Achievement Award Recipients:
The roundtable includes the Near North Enviro-education Centre, the North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority, and the Almaguin Highlands Chamber of Commerce. Their first priority was to educate locals on lakefront wastewater management systems, leading to a septics information mail out and survey, in support of the health of the lake.
We also awarded 4 Honourable Mentions in 2021:
- Lake St. Peter Property Owners Association (increased membership, circulated stewardship materials,…)
- Halls & Hawk Lakes Property Owners Association (increased membership, new youth & adult events; celebrated 75 years with a book about the area, …)
- Golden Lake & Bonnechere River Property Owners Association (succeeded in getting an amendment to the Bonnechere River Water Management Plan to address flooding concerns …)
- Loon & Turtle Lakes Cottage Association (environmental initiatives including “No grass, no geese” program and aquatic plant inventory…)
Congratulations, all! And thank you for sharing your stories with FOCA.
Related news coverage:
- April 6, 2022 – FOCA awards HHLPOA initiative (Minden Times)
- March 12, 2022 – Roundtable on lake health earns award for Sundridge and Strong-area lake association (NorthBayNipissing.com)
- March 11, 2022 – Sundridge waterfront homeowners recognized for work (North Bay Nugget)
- March 19, 2022 – FOCA Achievement Awards honourable mention to Lake St. Peter Property Owners Association (Toronto Star, and Bancroft Times)
Past FOCA Achievement Award recipients:
2021 Lake Bernard Property Owners’ Association
2020 Long Point Ratepayers Association
2019 Farlain Lake Community Association
2018 White Lake Cottagers’ Association
2017 Skootamatta District Ratepayers Association
2016 Golden Lake & Bonnechere River Property Owners’ Association
2015 Jack’s Lake Association
2014 Redstone Lake Cottagers Association
2013 Pike Lake Community Association
2012 Leech Lake Cottagers Association
2011 Crane Lake Association
2010 Hudson Lakes Association
2009 Point Clark Beach Association
2008 Otty Lake Association
2007 Kennisis Lake Cottage Owner’s Association
2006 Limerick Waterways Ratepayer’s Association
2005 Faraday (Trout Lake) Association
2004 Huntsville Lakes Council
2003 Eagle Lake Conservation Association
2002 Kawartha Lake Stewards Association
2001 Norway Lake Association
2000 Cecebe Waterways Association
1999 Belmont Lake Association & Greater Bobs and Crow Lakes Association
1998 Paudash Lake Conservation Association & West Carling Association
1997 Lake Panache Campers Association
1996 North Sound Cottagers’ Association
History of the Award:
What we now refer to as the “FOCA Achievement Award” was first presented in 1996 as a memorial after the passing of FOCA’s first Executive Director, Jerry Strickland, who served as a FOCA volunteer for 18 years.
Jerry joined FOCA in 1978 and he was a member of the Miskwabi Lake Area Cottagers’ Association in Haliburton. He is remembered for his dedication to FOCA’s operations. In the words of then-President Jean Anthon upon Jerry’s passing, he came as close as anyone could to being ‘Mr. FOCA’.