Canadian Association of Geographers Awards

Eligibility

The Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) offers a suite of awards and grants recognizing excellence in scholarly research, teaching, and professional service—ranging from the Award for Scholarly Distinction in Geography, awards for service to government/business, teaching excellence, mentorship, early-career research, and Indigenous studies.

The nominee must be a current member of the CAG, EXCEPT in the case of the Award for Geography in the Service of Government or Business. Nominees may include non-Canadians who have made significant contributions to Canadian Geography.  

Eligibility varies per award; see details below. 

Nomination procedure

Nomination cover letter

Summary

Award For Scholarly Distinction In Geography: The purpose of the award is to recognize a member of the CAG for outstanding scholarly work in geography either in the form of sustained contributions over a number of years or as a single major research contribution.

Award for Geography in the Service of Government or Business: Established in 1997 in recognition of the primary importance of excellence in geography in the service of government or business, the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) offers this award to someone who has carried out major work for or in the public or private sector. Normally a nominee would have distinguished himself or herself through the development or application of geographic techniques or tools used in the service of government or business or has a record of achievement for geography in the service of government or business over a long period of time. 

Award for Service to the Profession of Geography: This award is intended to recognize a member of the CAG for exceptional professional service over a period of years - for example, in the university training of geographers, in administration or similar activities in the public service, as an officer of a learned society, or in such other ways as have significantly advanced the profession and practice of geography in Canada.

Award For Excellence In Teaching Geography: In recognition of the primary importance of teaching excellence in geographic education, the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) offers, since 1997, this award to a member of the CAG who teaches in a recognized university, college, CEGEP or high school. At a minimum, a nominee must be the member of the teaching staff, full or part-time, hired to teach a course in any one year, who has primary responsibility for organizing and presenting course material.Normally, a nominee would be a member of the teaching staff, who has distinguished herself or himself in courses with small and large enrolments, at different levels of instruction, over several years of teaching in the nominating institution. 

President's Award for Outstanding Service to the Canadian Association of Geographers: The President's Award for Outstanding Service is made with the support of the CAG President to honour an outstanding contribution to the mission of the Canadian Association of Geographers. It recognizes exceptional service to the association, its members, and affiliates by a member of the association. Recipients of the award have gone well beyond their assigned responsibilities and have demonstrated an unusual commitment to the association. The award is intended to acknowledge and publicly celebrate these outstanding contributions, all the while acknowledging that the integrity and dedication the recipients have brought to the association is simply beyond measure. The award was initiated in 2011.

The Eric Crighton Mentorship Award: The award will be presented annually by the Canadian Association of Geographers in recognition of exemplary and sustained commitment to mentoring within geography. It serves to recognize the important contributions of individuals to guiding, encouraging, supporting and sparking passion in geography for students and early career scholars. 

The award commemorates the contributions of Professor Crighton to supporting and guiding students and early career scholars in their geography studies and careers. Eric was a medical geographer and Professor in Geography, Environment and Geomatics at the University of Ottawa, where his research focused on prenatal, pediatric and Indigenous environmental health. For over 20 years he supported the growth of numerous future geographers who have gone on to their own successful careers in and outside of academia, provided guidance for many early career scholars, and championed the CAG and its study groups as a means to support students across the country. 

Criteria  

1.     The award recognizes mentorship within the context of Canadian geography. Mentorship is understood as a relational process which shares wisdom, insight, skills, psychosocial support, and career guidance to enable a mentee’s individual growth and goal achievement. This may take the form an individual one-on-one relationship or a collective community relationship; it may be formal or informal. 

2.     The recipient of the award must be:  

a.     A member of the Canadian Association of Geographers, prior to the time of nomination;  

b.     A Canadian citizen or permanent resident.  

Adjudication  

Recommendations for the award are made to the CAG Executive by the CAG Awards Committee. 

Nominations 

Nominations are to be made through a letter to the Chair of the CAG Awards Committee, along with the completed cover page (attached) signed by three CAG members in good standing and/or current/former students/trainees, mentees and/or colleagues of the individual being nominated. The letter of nomination should identify the nominee's mentorship contributions and explain why these contributions are significant. Additionally, a minimum of three and a maximum of 10 personal reflection letters (max one page, single spaced) should be included in the package as supporting evidence. These personal reflection letters should outline how the nominee has impacted the individual’s development, career and life, and may be written by CAG members or non-members.

See the list of award recipients.

Full Citation: 2025-Dragicevic

Reflection letters: 2025-Dragicevic Reflection Letters​​​

Applicants are encouraged to read the following testimonials provided by peers and mentees of Eric as a way to prepare their application and gauge their nominee’s suitability for the award.

Testimonials

The Julian M. Szeicz Award for Early Career Achievement: The Julian M. Szeicz Award honours the memory and achievement of Dr. Julian M. Szeicz (1965-1998). The award is presented annually by the Canadian Association of Geographers in recognition of research achievement and career potential by a Canadian geographer at an early career stage. The purpose of the award is to foster the development of geographical studies of Canada and to provide recognition of recently established geographical practitioners. See the list of award recipients.

Full citation: 2025-Cleave

Criteria

1. The award recognizes research achievement and career potential in Canadian geography. This may take the form of an original synthesis or regional study, a conceptual development, a significant research advance in a subfield of geography, or the development of a technique.

2. The recipient of the award must be:

• A member of the Canadian Association of Geographers, prior to the time of nomination;
• A Canadian citizen or landed immigrant;
• Within eight years of graduation, normally from a PhD, but in exceptional circumstances from a Master's or Bachelor's programme, on December 31 of the year of the award.​

Adjudication

Recommendations for the award are made to the Executive of the Canadian Association of Geographers by the CAG Awards Committee.​

Nominations

Nominations are to be made in a letter to the Chair of the CAG Awards Committee, along with the cover page signed by three members of the CAG. The letter of support should identify the nominee's research achievement and explain why it is considered significant. The letter of support, nominee's current curriculum vitae and supporting materials to a maximum of thirty pages should be sent as an e-mail attachment to the CAG office by the 31st of January.

​NOTE: Nominees may be nominated multiple times as long as they remain eligible, but a new updated nomination package must be sent each year.

Application deadlines

Program application deadline