BREC has been selected as a finalist for the 2020 National Gold Medal Awards for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration.
Founded in 1965, the Gold Medal Awards program honors communities in the U.S. that demonstrate excellence in parks and recreation through long-range planning, resource management, volunteerism, environmental stewardship, program and professional development.
BREC is a finalist in the Class 1 Recreation category, which is the largest category and includes agencies serving communities with populations over 400,000. Previous winners in this category include Fairfax County, Virginia (2019), Palm Beach County, Florida (2018), and Johnson County, Kansas (2017). BREC is a two-time national Gold Medal winner (1991 and 1975) and a 17-time national finalist, including the past four years in a row.
Agencies are judged on their ability to address the needs of those they serve through the collective energies of community members, staff members and elected officials. BREC joins three other finalists in its class competing for grand honors this year.
“While this award recognizes the service BREC provided to the community in 2019, I am incredibly proud to receive this honor at a time when residents have needed us most, both at our parks and in their homes, during the COVID-19 pandemic which has forced our agency to quickly change our service model,” says BREC Superintendent Corey K. Wilson in a prepared statement.
This year’s finalists will compete for Grand Plaque Award honors this summer, and the six Grand Plaque recipients will be announced during the 2020 NRPA Conference, which will be held virtually in October. See the full announcement.
