Enos A. Mills Award for Exemplary Contributions to Environmental Education
The Enos A. Mills Award for Exemplary Contributions to Environmental Education is the highest honor presented by CAEE each year to an individual for long-term, outstanding achievements and contributions to environmental and outdoor learning. This award is named after Enos Mills, whose passion for environmental protection and education, photographs and writings were largely responsible for the decision by Congress in 1915 to establish Rocky Mountain National Park. Enos Mills spent his life discovering and experiencing nature, and working tirelessly to preserve it, by sharing its benefits with others through guiding, writing and photographs. Like Enos Mills, the award recipient must demonstrate exemplary vision, character, practice, and impact to the field of EE through a body of work.
Self-nominations are not accepted for this award.
Nomination Process and Scoring Criteria
The 2026 nomination window is now closed. If you have your eye on a candidate to be nominated in 2027 or beyond, fill out the eeAwards Nomination Interest Form.
(click here to preview the form)
Nominating a person for the Enos A. Mills Award for Exemplary Contributions to Environmental Education is a three-step process:
Step 1: Nomination Materials
Please see the detailed information in the section below on the required elements of the nomination.
Step 2: Interview
After the nomination deadline, members of the Awards Committee will schedule and conduct a brief interview with each nominator who has submitted a complete application to clarify nomination materials and address any additional questions.
Step 3: Applicant Scoring
Award reviewers from the Awards Committee will evaluate each nomination based on how well it addresses the four categories of criteria within scoring rubric. These four categories include: Vision, Practice, Impact and Character. Individual scores will be discussed at an Awards Selection Meeting at which the recipient will be determined.
View the Enos A. Mills Award for Exemplary Contributions to Environmental Education Nomination Process and Scoring Rubric to better understand how applications will be scored and for a detailed breakdown each scoring category that must be addressed in the nomination materials.
Nomination Materials
STEP 1: NOMINATION MATERIALS
The nomination must meet all requirements for consideration. If necessary, please consult the nominee to obtain complete information.
Nomination Entry Form
Download and complete the Enos Mills Nomination Form
Impact Summary
Review the scoring categories and criteria here. Select at least one and no more than two of the following options to address how the nominee demonstrates the criteria in the scoring rubric:
- A written narrative (max 1 page)
- Video (max 3 minutes)
- Slideshow (max 5 slides)
- Short story (max 1 page)
Three Letters of Support
Select three people who can provide letters of support for this nominee. Review the four categories in the rubric (Vision, Practice, Impact, Character). Have a conversation with each of the three letter writers and determine among them how all four categories will be addressed and how they will complement and enhance the nominator Impact Summary. Together, your letter writers should address how the nominee demonstrates criteria within all four categories.
Photographs & Organization Logo
Please send three high-resolution photographs (300 dpi or higher in JPEG, GIF, or PNG format) of the nominee. Please also attach a high resolution logo for his/her/their organization (this could be the organization from which the nominee retired, a current organization logo or the one where the nominee worked the longest). Please do not submit images embedded in a PDF page or Word document. If the size of the photos and logo are very large, please consider share these items through a file sharing program such as Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.
Optional: Submit nominee resume/CV (max 4 pages)