HomeMy WebLinkAboutDTS-10-142 - Review of Urban Design Awards
REPORT
REPORT TO:
Development and Technical Services Kitchener
DATE OF MEETING:
August 23, 2010
SUBMITTED BY:
Alain Pinard, Interim Director of Planning
PREPARED BY:
Heather Holbrook, Planner (Urban Design) (519-741-2324)
WARD(S) INVOLVED:
All
DATE OF REPORT: August 10, 2010
REPORT NO.:
DTS-10-142
SUBJECT:
2010 URBAN DESIGN AWARDS PROGRAM REVIEW
RECOMMENDATION:
That the revised Urban Design Awards Program as outlined in Development and
Technical Services report DTS-10-142, be endorsed.
BACKGROUND:
The Urban Design Awards program was established in 1988 to honour developments
throughout the City of Kitchener that were designed and built in a manner which enhances the
public realm. The awards have been well received by industry professionals as well as the
general public and have increased the awareness of the importance of urban design to the
public realm.
In October 2009 City Council endorsed the following recommendations as part of Development
and Technical Services Report DTS-09-144:
1) That the presentation of the next scheduled Mike Wagner Heritage Awards and the
Urban Design Awards be deferred to October 2011; and,
2) That Planning staff review the Mike Wagner Heritage Award and Urban Design Award
programs to determine if a change in presentation and/or award venue is merited; and
further,
3) That Planning staff review the Mike Wagner Heritage Award and Urban Design Award
criteria and processes to better reflect current urban design trends and city initiated
urban design policies.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Based on the review of the existing program and programs offered in other municipalities, staff
recommend that a revised Urban Design Awards Program be endorsed that modifies eligibility
requirements and judging, introduces new award categories and specific evaluation criteria for
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certain new categories; modifies the number of awards to be issued; modifies the overall award
process; and changes the venue for future award ceremonies. Minor changes to the text in the
Urban Design Manual, communication materials and nomination forms will be required to reflect
the changes to the program. Staff intend to implement these changes for the 2011 Urban
Design Awards. These changes will contribute to a more meaningful, expedient and transparent
award program.
Summary of Recommended Changes
Existing Program Proposed Program Rationale for change
Open only to Site Plan Open to a broader range of Expand the breadth of projects
applications. project types. worthy of recognition.
One category. Seven categories. Create an “apples to apples”
structure by which to evaluate
projects.
Three types of awards (Awards One type of award (Award of Reduce the number of awards to
of Excellence, Awards of Merit Excellence). be presented and increase the
and Nomination Awards). meaningfulness and prestige of
the award-winning projects.
No limit on the number of awards A limit of one award of Reduce the number of awards to
presented bi-annually. excellence per category bi-be presented and increase the
annually.* meaningfulness and prestige of
the award-winning projects.
No limit on the number of parties
A limit of six awards total for any Cost reduction.
eligible for recognition for one one award winning project.*
award winning project.
Call for nominations is sent to
Call for nominations is sent to a Increase the number of
eligible Site Plan applications by broader audience and advertised nominations. Make more efficient
mail and an ad is posted in the in more media outlets. use of staff time.
KW Record and online.
Judging Committee comprised of Expanded to include a Increase staff involvement in the
industry experts. representative from a post-determination of final awards.
secondary institution, economic Provide continuity from the staff
development and planning staff. subcommittee to the final judging
committee.
Staff subcommittee pre-screens Staff subcommittee makes final Expedite review process.
all nominations and Judging decision for some categories,
Committee makes final decision and pre-screen nominations for
on all nominations. other categories
(Judging
Committee makes final decisions).
Evaluation Criteria based on the More specific Evaluation Criteria Increase transparency and clarify
Urban Design Manual. for some categories. criteria.
Formal award ceremony held
Formal award reception held Maintain public awareness of the
with the Mike Wagner Heritage with the Mike Wagner Heritage program and award winning
Awards in Council Chambers on Awards in a venue other than projects while reducing the
a televised Council night. Council Chambers. Staff will amount of Council time required.
summarize award-winning
projects at a televised Council
meeting.
*intended limits; the total number of awards to be determined by the Judging Committee
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REPORT:
The purpose of this report is to review the existing Urban Design Award Program and
recommend revisions to the existing award process and judging criteria to increase the
relevance, transparency and efficiency of the current award program. The report also
recommends changes to the presentation format and venue, in conjunction with the Mike
Wagner Heritage Awards.
Existing Urban Design Award Program
The Urban Design Awards program is intended to honour developments that were designed and
built in a manner which enhances the public realm. The program is currently geared entirely
towards Site Plan projects. The existing Urban Design Awards program is held bi-annually and
offers three award types, including: Award of Excellence, Award of Merit and Nomination
Awards. Awards are presented before Council in collaboration with the Mike Wagner Heritage
Awards. There is no limit to the number of Urban Design Awards that may be presented.
The existing process involves tracking all eligible Site Plan applications; notifying all eligible
project team members; the receipt of nominations; short listing and evaluation by a staff sub-
committee; evaluation and recommendation by the Urban Design Awards Judging Committee
(Judging Committee) comprised of industry experts; and presentation of awards by Council at a
televised Council meeting. Short listing by the staff sub-committee and evaluation by the
Judging Committee is subject to evaluation criteria defined in the Urban Design Manual.
Review of the existing Urban Design Awards Program
Award Categories
Staff have reviewed Urban Design Awards programs offered by other municipalities including
the cities of Hamilton, Ottawa, Toronto, Mississauga, Calgary and Waterloo. Most municipalities
that offer Urban Design Awards programs tend to have a number of award categories, specific
to different types and scales of developments, and most distinguish between public and private
projects. The evaluation criteria for nominees differs slightly from municipality to municipality,
but all are based on established design guidelines and principles. The Kitchener Urban Design
Awards program currently does not have categories because it is limited to recognizing
exemplary Site Plans. The Kitchener program has evaluation criteria based on design
guidelines in the Council-approved Urban Design Manual. Staff are recommending that new
categories be created to recognize a broader range of types of development, and to ensure that
projects are evaluated relative to projects of similar scale and type. This would also improve the
fairness and transparency of the design awards.
Award Types and Number of Awards
Several municipalities offer Awards of Excellence and Awards of Merit, which is similar to the
structure of the City of Kitchener’s Urban Design Awards program. Some municipalities
recognize all nominees or shortlisted applications, others do not. Some municipalities specify a
limit on the number of Awards of Excellence and Awards of Merit to be presented, and some
limit the total number of awards that can be presented per project. Some municipalities also
specify that the jury reserves the right not to present awards in every category and that the jury
may reallocate submissions to other categories at their discretion.
The City of Kitchener Urban Design Awards program does not specify a limit on the number of
Awards to be presented, nor does it provide such latitude to the jury in the evaluation process.
Staff are recommending that the program be modified to eliminate Awards of Merit and only
issue Awards of Excellence in each category. This change will reduce the number of awards,
thereby increasing their prestige and significance. Staff are also recommending that there be a
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limit of the number of Awards of Excellence to be presented per category. In previous years the
owner of one successful project would have received a large framed award and multiple smaller
framed awards were given to the various parties involved in the project (including the
consultant, landscape architect, architect, urban designer, planner, contractor, builder, etc). As a
cost-savings measure and to simplify the awards, staff are recommending that a modestly sized
framed award be presented only to the owner and/or applicant and other involved parties noted
in the nomination form (up to a maximum of five additional award recipients for one project).
Staff are proposing that the Nomination Award category be eliminated entirely, and that instead
all shortlisted nominations be recognized in an Urban Design Awards report and in the
presentation to Council and at the Awards Ceremony. It is also proposed that the Judging
Committee be given the discretion to issue additional Awards of Excellence in any category
where more than one of the eligible projects receive exceptional scores and are equally
deserving of recognition. The intent of the proposed changes to the number and types of
awards is to maintain the meaning of the awards and not reducing their significance by
recognizing too many projects.
Eligibility Requirements
Most municipalities that offer Urban Design Awards programs specify eligibility requirements
that are similar to the Kitchener program. Staff are not recommending any changes to the
eligibility requirements except to more clearly define projects that are not eligible and specify the
eligibility requirements for new categories. The intent of these recommended changes is to
clarify the City’s expectations with regards to nominations.
Evaluation Process
The evaluation process for most municipalities is similar to the City of Kitchener Urban Design
Awards evaluation process which is a two step selection process involving a staff subcommittee
and formal judging committee comprised of a cross section of industry experts. The selection
process is proposed to be retained unchanged for some categories and some new categories
will have a slightly modified selection process. The intent of the recommended changes for
some categories is to expedite the review and evaluation process.
Some larger municipalities (namely Toronto and Calgary) solicit private sponsorship to fund the
award program including a Gala for the presentation of awards. Although staff would welcome
sponsorships, staff are not actively pursuing private sponsorship at this time irrespective of the
proposed changes to the program. Staff approximate that there is sufficient budget funding to
cover costs associated with the revised award process and final award presentation ceremony
and reception. Staff intend to investigate sponsorship opportunities in the future to supplement
the base funding.
Communications/Public Awareness
Other municipalities advertise the awards online and through various community and public
newspapers. Currently, the City of Kitchener promotes the awards online, with an ad in the
Record and distributes nominations materials to all projects that have received Site Plan
approval within the prescribed timelines. The process of tracking applications requires
significant staff time and resources. Staff are recommending that the notification process be
modified to notifying proponents of approved Site Plans at the time of approval by including
information about the Urban Design Awards program in a letter that is sent at the time of final
approval. This approach will make more efficient use of staff time. Staff intend to continue with
the current notification practice for the 2011 Awards (because tracking has already been
underway) and roll out the recommended nomination approach for the 2013 awards. Staff are
also recommending that the practice of running advertisements in the Record and on the
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website continue, and that other communication tools be considered (such as coverage in
community newspapers, social networking, media releases and a call for nominations to
targeted groups).
Most municipalities provide profiles of award-winning projects of previous years online, and host
award ceremonies to recognize and increase the public profile of exemplary design projects.
One municipality also automatically enters Award of Excellence winners to the Royal
Architectural Institute of Canada’s Urban Design Awards competition. The City of Kitchener
Urban Design Awards nomination process requires that shortlisted nominees submit a display
panel summarizing the project, many of said display panels are posted at City Hall. Some award
winning projects from years past are profiled on the City’s website. The award ceremony has
previously been held at a televised Council meeting. Staff recommend that City’s practice of
posting exemplary projects online and at City Hall be retained. Staff recommend that the formal
award ceremony be held in a separate venue than City Council Chambers. A summary of the
award winning projects would be presented at a televised Council meeting. This would maintain
the public awareness of the program and public recognition of award winning projects.
Proposed Revised Urban Design Awards Program
Proposed Award Categories and Proposed Eligibility Requirements and Evaluation Criteria
Staff are recommending the creation of a new categorized award framework as outlined below.
A maximum of one Award of Excellence per category (except the Urban Elements Category,
where the maximum is five Awards of Excellence) may be presented on a bi-annual basis.
Additional Awards of Excellence may be issued where more than one nominated project is
exceptional and worthy of recognition. The number of projects per category to be recognized as
being short listed is subject to the number and quality of eligible nominations received. The
number of awards given will be at the discretion of the Judging Committee and staff
subcommittee.
Awards will not be granted to nominations that do not meet the eligibility requirements. The
Judging Committee and staff subcommittee reserve the right not to present awards in every
category and can reallocate the nominations into categories that they consider most
appropriate. One project may be eligible for more than one award category (but shall not receive
more than three awards total). For each award winning project one award will be issued to the
owner and/or applicant and up to five awards may be presented to supporting parties involved in
the project.
The award categories are:
Low rise Buildings
Mid to High rise Buildings
These Urban Design Awards categories recognize a building or group of buildings that
demonstrate urban design excellence and creativity through a sensitive understanding of
the context, site plan, massing and pedestrian amenities. Buildings of all uses are
eligible, including residential, mixed use, commercial, institutional, governmental or
industrial. New construction, adaptive reuse and building renovations and expansions
are all eligible provided that all approvals are issued and construction work completed by
the nomination deadline.
Civic Projects
Awarded to public sector (government, educational establishments, institutional
establishments and public utilities) projects that make a significant contribution to the
public realm. Both Civic Buildings and Public Spaces are eligible provided that all
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approvals are issued and construction work is completed by the nomination deadline.
Public Spaces may include, but shall not be limited to such spaces as streets,
courtyards, plazas, trails, parks, bridges and streetscapes.
Urban Elements
Awarded to a smaller scale component of a building, landscape or urban environment
that contributes significantly to the quality of the public realm at a human scale. This
category may include but shall not be limited to elements such as street furniture,
lighting elements, special installations (ie: wayfinding maps/guides), barrier-free design
elements (ie: urban Braille), memorials, public art, paving treatments, gateway features,
planters, doorways, fountains, railings, facades, canopies and signage. Both temporary
and permanent urban elements are eligible and must be completed, constructed or
installed by the nomination deadline.
Neighbourhood Design
Awarded to approved and built subdivisions within the City that implement the design
objectives of the Design Brief for Suburban Development and Neighbourhood Mixed Use
Centres. In considering nominees for Neighbourhood Design Awards the Judging
Committee will consider the following criteria in their evaluation:
Walkability;
o
Variety;
o
Placemaking;
o
Conservation;
o
Connectivity;
o
Transit-supportive;
o
Safety;
o
Balance; and
o
Liveability.
o
Detailed descriptions of each of the above criteria is contained in Appendix A (excerpt
from the Design Brief for New Subdivisions and Neighbourhood Mixed Use Centres).
Visions / Master Plans
Awarded for a plan or study of a significant area within the City that provides a
development or redevelopment strategy for urban transformation in the mid to long term.
Neighbourhood Concept Plans, Streetscape Plans, Urban Design studies, Urban Design
charrette proposals, master plans, redevelopment strategies, community plans,
secondary plans, Urban Design briefs and planning justification reports are all examples
of eligible projects. To be eligible for submission, the plan or study must have been
completed within five years of the submission deadline and should not yet have been
implemented to a point of full occupancy. In addition to the base criteria for all Urban
Design Awards, the Judging Committee will also consider the following criteria in
assessing the merits of the plan or study:
Comprehensiveness;
o
Innovativeness;
o
Clarity of presentation; and
o
Alignment with the City of Kitchener policy framework.
o
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Student Projects
Awarded to secondary or post-secondary individual students or groups of students for
exemplary theoretical or studio projects relating to urban design and/or the public realm.
To be eligible for nomination the project must be Kitchener-based and must have the
support of school administration. Student nominations will be evaluated by a staff
subcommittee and will be evaluated based on the same criteria as the Visions / Master
Plan Award category. Interested students should contact their school administration.
Proposed Changes to Eligibility Requirements
Staff are recommend minor changes to the eligibility requirements to reflect the new category
framework. The Urban Design Manual and nomination forms for the 2011 round of awards will
be updated to reflect the recommended revised eligibility requirements as outlined in Appendix
B.
Urban Design Awards Judging
Staff are recommending that the role and composition of the Urban Design Awards Judging
Committee be revised as outlined below.
Members of the Judging Committee should include: the Director of Planning or alternate, chair
of the Development and Technical Services Committee, a representative for the K-W
Homebuilders Association, a local Architect, a local Landscape Architect, a local Urban
Designer, a local Engineer, a representative of a local post-secondary institution, a staff
member from the City’s Economic Development department, the Supervisor of Site Plan
Development and a staff Urban Designer or Urban Design Planner. The Judging Committee is
responsible for final determination of award winning projects in the following categories: Low
Rise, Mid to High Rise and Civic Projects. A subcommittee comprised of City staff (and led by
urban design staff) is responsible for narrowing down the field of eligible projects in the Low
Rise, Mid to High Rise and Civic Projects categories for the Judging Committee. The
subcommittee is also responsible for final determination of award winning projects in the
following categories: Neighbourhood Design, Vision/Master Plan and Student Projects.
Proposed Overall Award Process
Staff are recommending that the overall Urban Design Awards process follow the revised
process outlined below.
Staff initiates a call for nominations, including advertising in community newsletters,
online and in the local newspaper, calling upon Corporate Advisory Committees to
nominate projects, notifying targeted groups and providing application information to all
Site Plans approved within the nomination deadline;
The staff subcommittee reviews eligible projects in the Low Rise, Mid to High Rise and
Civic Projects Award categories and narrows the list of eligible projects for the Judging
Committee;
The Urban Design Awards Judging Committee reviews the short listed eligible projects
in the above noted categories to determine final award winners;
The staff subcommittee reviews all eligible projects in the Neighbourhood Design, Vision
and Master Plans and Student Project Award Categories to determine award winners;
and
Staff submit a report summarizing the recommendations of the Committees to Council
for information.
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Awards will be presented at a reception, held in conjunction with the Mike Wagner Heritage
Awards reception, to be held on a day and in a location that does not conflict with regularly
scheduled Council meetings. It is staff’s intent to provide an overview of the award-winning
projects to Council at a televised public meeting separate from the award ceremony.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommend that the existing Urban Design Awards Program be revised to a categorical
framework with modified eligibility requirement and evaluation criteria for the purpose of
improving the relevance, transparency and efficiency of the Urban Design Awards program.
Staff are committed to proceeding with a revised Urban Design Awards program in 2011.
CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS:
Sandro Bassanese, Urban Designer
REVIEWED BY:
Brian Page, Supervisor of Site Plan Development
Brandon Sloan, Interim Manager of Long Range and Policy Planning
ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Jeff Willmer, Interim General Manager
Development and Technical Services Department
Appendix A: Design Objectives excerpt from the City of Kitchener Design Brief for Suburban
Development and Neighbourhood Mixed Use Centres
Appendix B: Recommended Revised Eligibility Requirements
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APPENDIX A
EXCERPT FROM THE DESIGN BRIEF FOR SUBURBAN
DEVELOPMENT AND NEIGHBOURHOOD MIXED USE CENTRES
Primary Design Objectives
The Design Brief is based on seven primary objectives that form the basis for the City’s design
guidelines. The primary design objectives will be applied to all new suburban development with
emphasis on subdivision development and community planning:
1. WALKABILITY: to promote walkable neighbourhoods that are well connected to surrounding
neighbourhoods and major destinations such as park spaces, schools, shopping centres and
employment areas.
2. DIVERSITY: to build neighbourhoods that provide a variety of housing types, park and open
spaces and neighbourhoods focal points.
3. CHARACTER: to improve streetscape quality, neighbourhood character and sense of place.
4. CONSERVATION: to strengthen the conservation, stewardship, and integration of existing
natural and cultural heritage resources.
5. CONNECTIVITY: to provide multiple, well-integrated route options for all modes of
transportation such as walking, biking, transit and cars with direct access to major destinations.
6. TRANSIT SUPPORTIVE: to design and build neighbourhoods that promotes transit usage.
7. LIVABILITY: to promote design solutions that contribute to sustainable practices and healthy,
complete communities.
The Key Design Guidelines
The Design Brief is organized into two major design guidelines sections. The Primary Design
Guidelines present a series of general design guidelines that apply to large scale design
elements, such as existing site features, the street network and parks and open space system.
These large scale design elements are considered structural elements in neighbourhood
design. The Secondary Design Guidelines address neighbourhood character and livability
issues such as creating pedestrian friendly streets, street tree planting, building design
opportunities and park design details. These guidelines provide the necessary details to support
the structural elements.
Primary (Structural) Design Guidelines
• Conserve and integrate natural and cultural heritage resources as prominent neighbourhood
features and focal points. Also, create strong views to prominent site features.
• Provide an integrated, modified grid street pattern and trail system that connects
neighbourhoods and provides multiple street connections to major pedestrian destinations such
as transit routes, shopping centres and school sites.
• Create walkable neighbourhoods based on a maximum five minute walking distance (400-500
m radius) to key destinations such as parks, schools and shopping areas.
• Provide a variety of park spaces within five minutes of most homes with high visibility along
public streets and to provide linear park spaces that link to major trails or larger park space.
• Provide commercial and mixed use development within a central location.
• Incorporate traffic calming features into the proposed street network to manage traffic and
promote pedestrian safety.
• Provide a variety of housing types within each neighbourhood with higher densities located
within short walking distance of planned or existing transit routes and commercial areas.
Secondary (Detailed) Design Guidelines
• Recognize major community and neighbourhood streets (collector streets) as priority streets
and include special or enhanced design elements such as larger street trees, subdivision
entrance features, special building designs or pedestrian scale lighting to reinforce
neighbourhood identity.
• Encourage special landscaping features such as landscaped medians, enhanced landscaped
boulevards and gateway signs located at major neighbourhood entrances.
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• Create pedestrian-friendly streets through consistent street tree planting, houses with flushed
or recessed garages, varied building setbacks along longer streets and architectural variety and
pedestrian scale, decorative street lighting.
• Orient lots, primary building facades and building entrances to face public streets with
emphasis given to collector and priority streets. Promote “eyes on the street”.
• Provide a variety of lot frontages for single-detached housing along each street and block.
• Reduce the number of driveways along designated transit routes through alternative forms of
housing that require few or no driveways.
• Encourage street tree planting. Require one street tree in front of each house, at least three
trees on side yards and additional planting along park frontages. Encourage larger street trees
at gateway entrances and along priority streets.
• Encourage dedicated bicycle lanes along primary collector roads. Also, integrate trails along
bicycle routes and promote trails to commercial and employment areas.
• Require enhanced building elevations on special priority lots which are located in prominent
public view. Priority lots include corner lots, terminating vista lots, lots facing public park spaces
or heritage resources and gateway lots located at major neighbourhood entrances or focal
points.
• Encourage proactive park designs that are highly visible from the public street (minimum 50
per cent street frontage as a guiding principle), which are constructed early in the construction
process and include amenities that contribute to a neighbourhood theme.
• Locate commercial and institutional buildings close to the street and ensure all building
facades relate to the residential neighbourhood or theme. Provide direct access for pedestrians.
• Discourage noise walls along major streets in favour of window streets with houses facing the
major road or alternative design solutions or land uses along major streets.
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APPENDIX B
RECOMMENDED REVISED ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
The Urban Design Awards Program shall be open to all publicly visible or accessible urban
development projects in the City of Kitchener. These include buildings or groups of buildings
developed for residential, commercial, mixed use, recreational, industrial, governmental or
institutional purposes as well as adaptive reuse of existing buildings, building additions or
exterior renovations. Parks, open spaces, public utilities, street improvements and civic
structures are also eligible. There are also two categories open to recognize exemplary un-built
urban design plans and projects (Student Projects and Vision/Master Plan projects). Previously
submitted entries for the same category of award are not eligible. Projects that do not have a
public realm component (such as private gardens or backyards) are not eligible. Interior design
projects are not eligible. The program is open to urban designers, engineers, architects,
landscape architects, planners, developers, contractors, consultants, students, owners and the
general public who have contributed to Kitchener’s public realm.
Nominations for an Urban Design Awards must include:
An indication of the category of the nomination;
o
Confirmation that the project is located within the City of Kitchener;
o
Confirmation that the project has received all required approvals and is built and
o
ready for occupancy within the prescribed timelines;*
A project abstract describing the following urban design components**:
o
Project context and Urban Design quality;
Pedestrian circulation and created spaces;
Landscape concept and features;
Site elements;
Building design;
Signage;
Vehicular circulation and parking; and
Safety, security and Barrier-free design.
Confirmation that the project has not previously been nominated for Urban
o
Design Awards; and
Contact information for the owner and/or applicant and up to five project team
o
contacts
*not an eligibility requirement for nominations for the Vision/Master Plans or Student
Project Award categories
** nominations for the Vision/Master Plan and Student Project Award categories
must also describe how the project demonstrates the following:
Comprehensiveness
Innovativeness
Clarity of presentation
Alignment with the City of Kitchener policy framework.
Nominations for Student Project Awards must be acknowledged by and provide contact
information for a member of the School Faculty.
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