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Nominations deadline extended through December 16, 2011!

NRDC announces its fourth annual Growing Green Awards to recognize individuals who have demonstrated original leadership in the field of sustainable food. Through this national award, NRDC will recognize extraordinary contributions that advance ecologically integrated farming practices, climate stewardship, water stewardship, farmland preservation, and social responsibility from farm to fork.

A Growing Green Award will be given to an outstanding individual in each of four categories, including Food Producer, Business Leader, Food Justice Leader, and Young Food Leader. Cash prizes of $10,000, $2,500 and $2,500 will be awarded in the Food Producer, Food Justice Leader and Young Food Leader categories, respectively. All winners will be widely celebrated through outreach to media and NRDC’s networks. Winners will also be celebrated in May 2012 at an event to benefit NRDC in San Francisco. Award selections will be made by an independent panel of sustainable food experts.

Credits: Lettuce farm photo courtesy of USDA NRCS, Compost photo courtesy of USDA NRCS.

Eligibility

Recipients may represent a variety of fields including food production, food service, retail or restaurants, academia, journalists, policy advocacy, and government. The panel will consider candidates from across the country (candidates operating outside of the United States will not be considered). Individuals in the following four categories are eligible:

• Food Producer: Farmers or other food producers, including aquaculture, who employ innovative techniques to sustain agriculture, the natural environment, workers and community
• Business Leader: Entrepreneurs who effectively use the marketplace to promote sustainable food systems, develop infrastructure that enables producers to be more sustainable, or advance sustainable innovations anywhere along the supply chain from farm to fork
• Food Justice Leader: Advocates and entrepreneurs who are creating equitable food systems, including provision of safe and fair working conditions for food system workers and improving access to nutritious food to families and communities in need
• Young Food Leader: Sustainable food advocates, entrepreneurs, thought leaders and innovators who are 30 years old or younger

Growing Green Awards Criteria

In selecting from nominees, the awards selection panel will consider the following criteria:

• Innovation in promoting ecologically-integrated food systems. This may include minimizing inputs of energy, water and chemicals; reducing pollution and global warming gas emissions; use of on-farm polyculture; increasing natural resilience; and stewardship of biodiversity, pollinators, open space and land resources.
• Potential to achieve wide scale adoption, implementation or behavioral change.
• Advancement of health, safety and economic viability for farmers, food system workers and communities.

How to Apply

Applications will be accepted until close of business on December 16, 2011. The application must be submitted electronically here. Application materials may include up to 10 pages of text (12 point font please), photographs, articles or other supporting materials. Please combine multiple files into a single attachment.

In the last three Growing Green Award competitions we received many excellent nominations that came close to winning. We will consider previously submitted nominations again this year upon request.

Questions? Please contact Amrita Batra at gga@nrdc.org or by phone at (415) 875-6107.

Selection Panel and Process

NRDC is grateful to the following sustainable food leaders who have volunteered to join the Growing Green Awards selection panel. The awards will be selected by this independent panel with staffing assistance from NRDC.

Myra Goodman, and her husband Drew, are the Co-Founders of Earthbound Farm, the largest grower of organic produce in North America. She is the author of Food to Live By: the Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook and The Earthbound Cook: 250 Recipes for Delicious Food and a Healthy Planet, as well as a regular contributor to Bon Appetít magazine. In 2003, Myra opened the United States’ third certified organic kitchen at Earthbound Farm’s Farm Stand in Carmel Valley. Myra and Drew have received numerous awards in recognition of their environmental stewardship, including Global Green USA’s Corporate Environmental Leadership Award in 2003 and the Organic Trade Association’s Organic Leadership Award in 2008. (Photo: Earthbound Farm)

Nikki Henderson is the Executive Director of People’s Grocery in Oakland, CA, a non-profit organization working to improve the health and economy of West Oakland through a local and just food system. Henderson previously worked with Green for All and Slow Food USA. In 2009, she co-founded Live Real, a national collaborative of food movement organizations committed to strengthening and expanding the youth food movement in the United States. In 2010, Henderson was featured in ELLE magazine as one of five Gold Awardees.

Michael Pollan is a distinguished author on food, agriculture, and the environment. He has authored numerous New York Times bestsellers, including Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual (2010), In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (2008), The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006), and The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World (2001). Pollan was named to the 2010 TIME 100, and has received numerous awards for his writing, including the James Beard Award for best magazine series. In 2003, Pollan was appointed as the director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. (Photo: Alia Malley)

Josh Viertel is the President of Slow Food USA, a national non-profit with members working together to create a world in which all people can eat food that is good for them, good for the people who grow it and good for the planet. Josh previously co-founded and co-directed the Yale Sustainable Food Project at Yale University. Prior to his work at Yale, Josh started Mamabrook Farm, a small organic vegetable farm that provided food to local restaurants and farmers’ markets. Josh graduated from Harvard University with degrees in philosophy and literature. In 2010, he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Meet Last Year's Winners

Growing Green Awards | 2011 Winners | 2010 Winners | 2009 Winners | Contact Us

last revised 10/31/2011