Scholarships & Awards

Annual Meeting Awards & Winter Scholarship Opportunity

Solicitation for these awards have been sent and the nominations for Port of the Year, Life Member, and Outstanding Service to the Industry are due by 3:00 pm on October 18th, 2024. The Winter Scholarship Application is due by 3:00 pm on October 25th, 2024. Please send nominations to Mandy Lill. All nominations will be reviewed by the Executive Committee. Awards will be presented during the Awards Breakfast at the Annual Meeting on Friday, December 13th at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Bellevue.

Spring Meeting Awards & Scholarship Opportunity

Solicitation for these awards will be sent via email in February and are due towards the end of March. All award nominations will be reviewed and decided upon by WPPA staff. Scholarships are reviewed and decided upon by the Executive Committee. The awards and scholarships will be presented during the Awards Breakfast at the Spring Meeting on Friday, May 17th at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson.

Port of the Year
Port of the Year Award is to recognize a member port that has demonstrated exceptional success in our industry. Any port is welcome to submit a nomination for either itself, or another WPPA port member. Please limit the number of pages to four and explicitly describe the reasons for the nomination. It is not necessary to “generate” political support for a nomination.

Life Member
The WPPA Executive Committee is also accepting nominations for Honorary Life Members. As stipulated in the WPPA bylaws, nomination for such membership shall be made by letter to the Executive Committee from a member and shall state in detail the qualifications of the nominee. The qualifications shall include the following criteria: The individual must have served as an officer or committee chairman or employee of the association, and/or performed extraordinary service for the Washington public port industry.

Honorary Life Members have full privileges of committee membership and participation in WPPA activities.

Outstanding Service to the Industry
In 1995, the Executive Committee approved the establishment of the “Outstanding Service to the Port Industry” award. The intent is to provide recognition to commissioners and staff, upon retirement or departure, who have provided “a significant and meaningful contribution to the success of a public port district or the public port industry at the local, national, or international level.”

WPPA Winter Scholarship

The Washington Public Ports Association Winter Scholarship will be focused on continuing education being pursued by a port employee that is intended to enhance their ability to provide direct benefit to the people of their port districts. This scholarship was last awarded in 2014, and we are happy to bring it back in 2024 as many members have been suggesting. Details for this scholarship will be sent out in the fall and awarded at our Annual Meeting.

Environmental Stewardship Award
The environmental stewardship award goes to a project that results in a substantial improvement to the natural environment. This could mean habitat restoration or enhancement, air or water quality improvement, recycling, energy conservation, public or tenant education—but this award is not limited to these areas.

Community Engagement Award
Community issues matter to ports, and this award highlights exemplary community engagement with port district residents to drive toward a positive outcome on an effort or project.

 Creative Partnership Award
The creative partnership award is about the spirit of creating coalitions- bringing groups, organizations, or individuals together to advance a port project, goal, or initiative.

 Outstanding Job Creator of the Year Award
An outstanding job creator is a port who has created high quality, impactful jobs for their community. This award recognizes extraordinary job creation activity.

The criterion for the awards listed above is based on significant projects and effort taken by a port district over the last year in each category. The award applications should include information on the project or effort, and any other supporting material. Award applications should be limited to three pages and submitted in a PDF format.

Spring Scholarship

This Washington Public Ports Association Spring Scholarship is primarily geared toward high school or high-school equivalent students pursuing post-secondary education in a port-related industry or field of study including international trade, foreign languages, finance, business, engineering, environmental sciences, and other port related fields. That student must be a relation of a port commissioner or port employee to be eligible. The 2024 application is now available by clicking on the button below. See application for all submission instructions including the due date of March 29th by 4:00 pm.