January 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 64

N R PA I n A c t i o n
We applied four times before we actually won it.
It's that old patience, perseverance, and persistence-
and learning each time from the process. "
matter, quality, costs, and the difficulty of producing the videos. Quite often,
entrants wrongly perceive the weight
accorded videos. While there is considerable sweat equity that goes into producing a video, costs can be can be kept
to a minimum. What can't be minimized,
however, is the importance of strictly following the program's requirements for
producing the videos. When things fall
apart, it's usually because an agency
failed to follow every guideline-which
is unfortunate, because it's all clearly
laid out in the application forms, the program administrators say.
The videos count for 40 percent of the
overall judging criteria, with the written
portion counting for 60 percent. The purpose of the videos, stress the administrators, is to validate the written portion
of the applications. As one current judge
explains, the videos provide a visual
way of answering the written questions.
Past winners concur on the monetary costs of producing a video, but they
also stress there are resourceful ways of
overcoming some or all of the costs.
In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin,
Parks and Recreation Director Sue Black,
a 2009 Gold Medal winner and 2010 guest
judge, explains how her department produced a video for practically nothing. She
tapped a local production company to
provide its services as an in-kind donation and she brought in a person considered the " voice of Milwaukee " to provide
personality and passion to the video (rather than a staid narrator). " So, I don't think it
was expensive at all, " Black says.
Over the years, Steve Messerli has
obser ved how some agencies employ imagination and resourcefulness
in funding their videos, most often by
tapping other city agencies, especially
their communications departments. Just
about all departments have a use for the
videos, Messerli explains. The videos
are valuable to economic development
agencies and chambers of commerce,
as well as for communicating the value of
parks and recreation to elected leaders.

62 Parks & Recreation

JANUARY 2011

-Steve Messerli, Executive Director of Fox Valley Park District
in Aurora, Illinois, and current Past Chair of AAPRA.
As a retail rule of thumb, entrants
should expect to pay $1,000 a minute
for a finished, professionally produced
video. Program administrators stress
the importance of following every requirement laid down in the application
form. The over-arching consideration is
for the entrant to " tell the story " of their
park system and why it's unique. The
dividends for doing so will reach well
beyond an agency's walls when it wins.
" One of our slogans is 'Pride in Tradition,' and I think a lot of parks departments have that, " says Black. " When
I started, Gaylord Nelson [Wisconsin
U.S. Senator and founder of Earth Day]
told me how wonderful our park system
used to be. He challenged me to bring
it back to the days when Frederick Law
Olmsted declared it the best in the country. Through seven years of hard work
we brought it back to that fine tradition.
Winning the Gold Medal really brought
that sense of pride back to the community and it has brought us together and
now we are going to move forward-it's
not the finish line but the motivation to
get back to work. "
Agencies will often approach their
park foundations for help in funding the
videos. " In recent years, the judges are
seeing more and more agencies finding
somebody to help sponsor or be a partner on the videos, to offset either all or
some of the costs, " says Messerli.

It's Not All or Nothing
Christopher K. Jarvi is A APR A's Gold
Medal liaison and former president of
NRPA. He recalls a long-time complaint
that has recently been addressed-that
only winning the Gold Medal counts.
" It was kind of a surprise to see that
agencies viewed the program as a kind
of Academy Awards, where there was
one winner and three losers, " Jarvi says.
" That perception has been overcome,

www.NRPA .ORG

thanks to our sponsor, Musco Lighting.
" We now have a reception the night
before the awards where every agency
is recognized, and they all come in and
are recognized as winners and receive
plaques for being a finalist, " Jarvi says.
" It's a much more fulfilling experience
for winners and finalists. "
While, as Messerli explains, winning
often requires perennial patience and
persistence, it also requires diligence
and a level of seriousness.
" I've been fortunate enough in my career to win it in two locations, and have
gone through the process enough times
to really know what people are looking for.
" I would advise anybody who applies to understand that the application
has very specific criteria, " Messerli continues. " It's like taking an exam in college-and, in fact, some of the judges
are college professors. So if you don't
use the right font size or if you go outside
the margins or if you are told to do in it
one page and you do it on a page and a
half, that's not going to work and you will
either lose points or you may even be
disqualified. So I encourage everybody
to follow those questions and answer
them as they relate to your community.
Tell the story about your community. "
Last and perhaps most important, the
program administrators strongly encourage applicants with questions to contact
them for answers well ahead of time. That
additional help can make all the difference in making it to the final four, an immense accomplishment in the world of
parks and recreation administration. 
To obtain information on the Gold Medal
Awards program and to enter, visit www.
nrpa.org/awards. The website includes
valuable application information,
answers to frequently asked questions,
lists of previous winners, a time line, and
tips on applying.

January 2011 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2011 - Parks & Recreation