January 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 54
NRPA Update
The National Gold
Medal Program
It's not all about winning...
By Merry Moiseichik and Carolyn McKnight
T
here are approximately 8,000 park and recreation agencies representing
thousands of communities across the United States, but most of them do not
apply for the Gold Medal Award program, governed by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration (AAPRA). Some believe they
do not have a chance to win, others believe it too hard to apply and still others do not
see a return on the resources invested if they do not win. To understand the benefits of
applying for the Gold Medal, particularly for agencies that do not win, we interviewed
representatives from agencies that were finalists but were not Grand Award winners.
Where It All Began
The Gold Medal Award (GMA) program dates to 1965, the same year that
the program's principal advocate, the
National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) was founded. The re-
lationship continued until 2003 when
oversight of the program was assumed
by the AAPRA (http://www.aapra.org/
about-us), which believes that awards
create motivation to be the best and
the GMA program helps it meet this
goal. The award was established by the
National Sporting Goods Association
(NSGA) and its Sports Foundation, Inc.,
as a means to promote the participation
of individuals in sports and recreation
activities through the recognition of the
country's best park and recreation agency programs.
The GMA program has five classifications divided by population size: Class I
through Class V. In 2005, the first award
for state parks was given, followed, in
2013, by the first Armed Forces Award,
bringing the GMA categories to a total
of seven.
The GMA Study
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Class I - more than 400,000
Class II - 150,001 - 400,000
Class III - 75,001 - 150,000
Class IV - 30,001 - 75,000
Class V - under 30,000
State Parks
Armed Forces
Twenty-five communities were asked to
participate in this study: three from each
community class size and three from the
Armed Forces. Each had been selected
as a finalist in the past three years but
had not been awarded the Gold Medal.
Of the 25 asked, 10 community park
52
Parks & Recreation
| J A N UA R Y 2 0 1 8 | W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G
January 2018 - Parks & Recreation
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2018 - Parks & Recreation
January 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 1
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