Annual James Waight Award is Just around the Corner

On February sixteenth, the Belize Audubon Society will host the annual James Waight Awards Ceremony.  The virtual event recognizes exemplary Belizeans in the area of conservation and environmental awareness. The first award was issued in 1987, and since then as many as thirty-four persons have received awards.

Amanda Acosta

Amanda Acosta, Executive Director, Belize Audubon Society

“The awards ceremony that we’re celebrating is the James A. Waight Award. It is a local award issued to Belizean residents, citizens, it’s open to Belizeans and it’s really about highlighting great work happening in the country.  We’re always surrounded by a bit of bad news here and there and COVID and the pandemic hasn’t helped the mood, and so this is really to just highlight something positive, to highlight work that happens in the communities and around the country. The award is named after James A. Waight.  James A. Waight is one of the founding members of the Belize Audubon Society. He was the first president of the society and so it’s really kind of homage in honor of him.  It is actually celebrated on February sixteenth, which is his birthday, and so the award has centered around that date for a couple decades now. The first award was issued in 1987. Every year, we post out a nomination call and we have the local Belizeans nominate names and there is a set criteria that is used for selecting the nominee or for the awardee. The awardee, basically we are looking for someone who works in their community, someone who has championed the environment, be it a species, an ecosystem, pollution, whatever calling they have basically.”