{"id":15508,"date":"2024-09-12T17:19:53","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T00:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/?p=15508"},"modified":"2025-01-02T12:18:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T19:18:06","slug":"commission-award-recipients-announced-for-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2024\/09\/12\/commission-award-recipients-announced-for-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Commission Award recipients announced"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>NEWS RELEASE<\/strong><br>Sept. 12, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Commission Awards Banquet set for Jan. 25, 2025<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PHOENIX \u2014 The Arizona Game and Fish Commission announced the recipients of the 2024 Commission Awards at its Sept. 6 meeting in Prescott, Ariz. The awards recognize Arizonans who have contributed significantly to the conservation of the state\u2019s wildlife, its outdoor heritage, and the mission of the Arizona Game and Fish Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year&#8217;s recipients are:<\/p>\n\n\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Award of Excellence \u2013 Kohinoor Kar \u2013 ADOT<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Youth Conservationist of the Year \u2013 Ryder and Caydence Walton<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Media of the Year \u2013 The Williams Grand Canyon News<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conservation Organization of the Year \u2013 Pete Cimellaro \u2013 AZ Big Game Super Raffle dba Conservation First<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conservationist of the Year \u2013 Nate Rees \u2013 Trout Unlimited<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Natural Resource Professional of the Year \u2013 Cheryl Rodriguez<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Volunteer of the Year \u2013 Mark Venuti<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Educator of the Year \u2013 Jacob Swartwood<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mentor of the Year \u2013 Marci Welton<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advocate of the Year (State) \u2013 Rep. Tim Dunn<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advocate of the Year (Federal) \u2013 Senator Mark Kelly<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Business Partner of the Year \u2013 AZ Fly Shop \u2013 Chris Rich<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Buck Appleby Hunter Education Instructor of the Year \u2013 Denis Rusty McBride \u2013 Sprague\u2019s Sports LLC<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wildlife Habitat Steward of the Year \u2013 Terry Schmidt of Schmidt Ranch<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North American Model Commissioners&#8217; Award \u2013 Jeff Gagnon<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<p>The awards will be presented at the annual Commission Awards Banquet on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort, Grande Ballroom, 11111 N. 7th Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The banquet will begin with a social hour at 4 p.m. followed by dinner at 6 p.m. The awards will be presented concurrently with dinner. The cost is $75 per person. All <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/secure.lglforms.com\/form_engine\/s\/s18czW5Mt-z-xjyMBZmhNw\">RSVP\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> are due by Jan. 3, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/secure.lglforms.com\/form_engine\/s\/s18czW5Mt-z-xjyMBZmhNw\">Registration and Sponsorship Form<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Arizona Game and Fish Commission held its first annual awards banquet on Jan. 12, 1991. Since then, more than 400 recipients have been recognized with Commission awards. The awards banquet gives the Commission an opportunity to recognize individuals, groups and organizations for their contributions to Arizona\u2019s wildlife resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All of the costs associated with the awards banquet must be paid for by ticket sales and sponsorship donations, including the complimentary tickets for award recipients and their spouse or guest. Table sponsorships for organizations are available in several categories and include logo advertisement in the event program and sponsorship recognition during the introductory PowerPoint presentation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Awards banquet will be Jan. 25, 2025, at the Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":15510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main-site"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Commission Award recipients announced - Arizona Game &amp; Fish Department<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2024\/09\/12\/commission-award-recipients-announced-for-2024\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Commission Award recipients announced - Arizona Game &amp; 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