NourishAwards: Overview
Nourish Awards
Launched at the 2023 Food for Health Symposium, the Nourish Awards exist to recognize and celebrate leadership, honouring longstanding changemakers and emergent voices in food-health transformation.
The purposes of Nourish’s Awards program are to:
Recognizeandcelebrateleadership: honour longstanding changemakers and emergent voices in food-health transformation.
Drivevisibility: spotlight food-health champions to raise the awareness and profile of leading-edge work
Inspireandengagenewchampions: connect executive and philanthropic investment to visible, inspiring results
Showcasediversity: of efforts across geographies, regions, and contexts
Fosterconnection: link nominees and awardees with peers and emerging leaders
Buildandsustainmomentum: highlight both catalytic early-stage efforts and enduring initiatives that have reshaped policy, practice, and culture
SubmittingaNomination
Please see the description of each award for eligibility, nomination criteria, and timelines.
All nominations for Nourish Awards are accepted via our Awards Portal: Nourish Awards Portal
Please follow Nourish on socials and subscribe to our mailing list to be notified when award nominations open. Awards will be announced via the same channels.
Questions?
Email us at info@nourishleadership.ca.
MargaretEdgars ReconciliationAward
In honour of Margaret Edgars, who passed into the Spirit World in summer 2023, Nourish created the Margaret Edgars Reconciliation Award. The award is presented to individuals or organizations advancing Indigenous foodways in community and health care settings. These actions include acknowledging the history, land, and water in ways that create positive, lasting impacts for future generations. This also includes what Margaret always kept front and centre in our conversations: the importance of “putting the love in food.”
Purpose
To honour those advancing Truth and Reconciliation in health care through food with heart, humility, and respect This award celebrates those who uplift Indigenous foodways, embody Two-Eyed Seeing, and foster healing and connection through culturally grounded food practices It recognizes those who put love into the food and move us toward a future rooted in Yahguudang (love and respect in Haida language)
AwardCriteria
Nominees and the successful recipient will:
Advance Indigenous foodways in a good way
Make a conscious, selfless effort and initiative to recognize, respect and include Indigenous ways of doing and Two Eyed Seeing by integrating Traditional Foods in community and health care settings.
Create a lasting impact by furthering Truth and Reconciliation and/or inspiring others to continue Reconciliation efforts.
Be a living example of Truth and Reconciliation in action through their willingness to advocate, share culture, listen, learn, and do.
EligibleNominees
An individual, team, or organization.
An Indigenous person or an ally.
You can nominate yourself or someone else.
Timing
The Margaret Edgars Award is given every two years at Nourish’s fall Symposium.
Award
A total of one to two awards will be given in each award cycle
Recipients will receive a certificate, gift, Symposium ticket, and recognition by Nourish
NominationProcess
Please visit the Nourish Awards Portal to submit your application
NourishPlanetary PlateAward
Purpose
To recognize a person or team that is advancing the health of people and the planet through thoughtful, systemic leadership in organizational food practices
AwardCriteria
Nominees and the successful recipient will:
Demonstrate leadership in reducing the environmental impact of food in healthcare settings (e g , low-carbon menus, sustainable sourcing, waste reduction, circular food systems)
Advance climate-conscious food strategies that are culturally appropriate, nourishing, and rooted in equity and care
Take tangible steps to localize food procurement and support sustainable or regenerative farming and food production. Inspire change within and beyond their institution through education, collaboration, or innovation in planetary health.
EligibleNominees
An individual, team, or organization
From healthcare, food service, community partnerships, or academic settings. You can nominate yourself or someone else.
Timing
The Planetary Plate Award is given every two years at Nourish’s fall Symposium
Award
A total of one to two awards will be given in each award cycle. Recipients will receive a certificate, gift, Symposium ticket, and recognition by Nourish.
NominationProcess
Please visit the Nourish Awards Portal to submit your application.
NourishAnchor LeadershipAward
Purpose
To recognize bold leadership that harnesses the power of food to create resilient, equitable, and community-rooted health systems.
AwardCriteria
Nominees and the successful recipient will:
Show courage and vision in making food a central strategy for health, economic justice, and community well-being
Leverage institutional influence to support regional economies, build food sovereignty, and strengthen local food ecosystems
Build authentic partnerships across sectors: healthcare, farming, Indigenous communities, nonprofits, and beyond
Make bold policy or procurement choices that shift the status quo and support just, sustainable food systems
Embody the principle that leadership is not just about power, but about nurturing connection and change through food with love, vision, and responsibility
Effect change that touches policy, strategy, and significant shifts at different scales (individual, organizational, community, government,etc )
EligibleNominees
Nourish aspires to recognize a diversity of leaders through this award - from those just beginning their journeys to more seasoned travellers.
An individual or institutional leader, or leadership team
Working within or in partnership with health care settings. Leaders may be at any stage of their life or career journeys. You can nominate yourself or someone else.
Timing
The Anchor Leadership Award is given every two years at Nourish’s fall Symposium.
Award
A total of one to two awards will be given in each award cycle. Recipients will receive a certificate, gift, Symposium ticket, and recognition by Nourish.
NominationProcess
Please visit the Nourish Awards Portal to submit your application
