Awards

Landscape Awards

Applications for the 2023 FNPS Landscape Awards are now open!

From residential yards to commercial landscapes and from large-scale restoration sites to small-scale wildlife and butterfly gardens, FNPS encourages Chapters, community groups, businesses, professionals, government agencies, HOA's and individuals to nominate their own or others' landscapes for recognition of their efforts to celebrate and highlight the benefits of native plants.

Please click the button below for details and to apply.

If you have any questions, please email:

Palmetto Awards

At the Annual Conference, the Florida Native Plant Society bestows various awards to members and chapters for their contributions to our mission. The Palmetto awards were established in 1984 by Sherry Cummings of the Palm Beach Chapter, then the FNPS President, to further the mission of the Florida Native Plant Society by encouraging and acknowledging the contributions to conservation of natural areas and native plants, and educating to these objectives.

Green Palmetto Award

The Society generally awards one Green Palmetto Award for each:

1. service or education;
2. science; and
3. outstanding chapter of the year.

Current FNPS board members are not eligible for this award. Contributions can be of regional or statewide significance.

Silver Palmetto Award

The Silver Palmetto Award is made by the FNPS President to the board member who has been of the greatest assistance during the past year.

Mentor Award

Created in 1995, the Mentor Award recognizes distinguished individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the science and practice of native plant preservation, conservation and restoration. This award is the highest honor the Society can bestow and is reserved for lifelong or career-long contributions.

Any member can make Green Palmetto or Mentor Award nominations. Selection of Mentor and Green Palmetto award winners is by a vote of the FNPS Board of Directors. Winners will be announced during the Annual Meeting, which usually occurs during the Annual Conference and has been virtual since 2020. Here’s a not so subtle hint: while secrecy isn’t a requirement, it’s always nice to surprise the awardee at the conference.

Grants

Conservation Grants

FNPS Conservation Grants support applied native-plant conservation projects in Florida. Applicants can apply for a grant of up to $5,000 awarded for a 1-year period. Projects must promote the preservation, conservation, or restoration of rare or imperiled native plant taxa and rare or imperiled native plant communities.  To qualify for a Conservation Grant, the proposed project must be sponsored by an FNPS Chapter.

Research Grants

The Florida Native Plant Society maintains an Endowment Grant program for the purpose of funding research on native plants.  These are small grants (typically $2500 or less), awarded for a 1-year period, and intended to support research that forwards the mission of the Florida Native Plant Society "to promote the preservation, conservation, and restoration of the native plants and native plant communities of Florida."

Dan Austin Grant for Ethnobotany

This award is limited to graduate or undergraduate students who are studying Florida ethnobotany – i.e., the study of the relationship between peoples or cultures with plants native to Florida or Florida ecosystems. These can be current uses or historic uses.

Evaluation Criteria

• Research must focus on Florida native plant species or plant communities.
• Research project must have a human/plant connection.
• Research can include mycology, taxonomy, botany, demographics of medicinal plants, medicinal chemistry, human effects on soils, economic importance, etc.  

Cornelia McNamara Grant

The Cornelia McNamara Grant is named in honor of a long-term member who passed away last year.  The Cornelia McNamara grant is made possible by a generous donation from Chris Calder, a Cuplet Fern Chapter member who wants to advance the knowledge of our native plant heritage.  Chris's donation will allow FNPS to award grants for four years, so there will be an annual request for proposals.  

The specific grant objectives are:

•         To advance the study of Florida’s native plant species and habitats 
•         To promote efforts that yield quantitative data and information about native plant species 
•         To encourage data collection that is typically unsupported and unfunded by traditional academic                            institutions and funders.