Louisville Announced As Finalist For 2018 National Gold Medal Awards In Parks And Recreation

The American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration (AAPRA), in partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), is pleased to announce Louisville Parks and Recreation as a finalist for the 2018 National Gold Medal Awards for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management. Musco Lighting, LLC has been a proud sponsor of the Gold Medal Awards program for over 10 years.

Founded in 1965, the Gold Medal Awards program honors communities in the U.S. that demonstrate excellence in parks and recreation through long-range planning, resource management, volunteerism, environmental stewardship, program development, professional development and agency recognition. Applications are separated into seven classes, with five classes based on population, one class for armed forces recreation and one class for state park systems awarded on odd numbered years.

Louisville is a finalist in the Class 1 category, which includes cities of populations larger than 400,000 and most of the largest parks and recreation departments in the United States.

Agencies are judged on their ability to address the needs of those they serve through the collective energies of community members, staff and elected officials. Louisville joins three other finalists in their class that will compete for grand honors this year.

“It’s an honor for Louisville to be named a finalist for the Gold Medal Award,” Mayor Greg Fischer said. “I’d like to thank NRPA for recognizing what the citizens of our city have known for a long time: We are blessed with a world-class parks and recreation system. Our citizens and visitors have enjoyed our parks since the 1890s, when Frederick Law Olmsted’s vision began to take shape, and this is a great recognition of our commitment to keep building on that vision.”

“This is a great day for our department and its employees,” Parks and Recreation Director Seve Ghose said. “Our dedicated staff works incredibly hard every day to give all citizens of Louisville a parks and recreation system they can be proud of. We’re thrilled to be nominated for the Gold Medal.”

A panel of five park and recreation professionals reviews and judges all application materials. Judges are chosen for their considerable experience and knowledge in parks and recreation on both the local and national levels.

This year’s finalists will compete for Grand Plaque Award honors this summer, and the six Grand Plaque recipients will be announced live during the NRPA General Session at the 2018 NRPA Annual Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, Sept. 25–27, 2018.

For more information on the Gold Medal Awards, visit www.nrpa.org/goldmedal or www.aapra.org.