The mission of the ILCA Excellence in Landscape Awards is to increase public awareness of the industry in environmental improvement, to recognize individual firms for the quality of their work and to encourage greater public awareness of environmental beautification. To participate in ILCA's Awards Program, the landscape contracting company must be an ILCA member. Projects must be located in Illinois or its bordering states. All entries must be received by November 2 at 4 p.m., although an early-bird discount applies to entries received on or before October 5. Entry fees must be paid at the time of submission.
Landscape contractors can enter projects in as many categories as desired.
All entries must include the name of the landscape contracting firm. On their merit Submissions for the competition are anonymously judged on their own merit by four individuals who serve as judges for three consecutive years. Entries are not judged by Awards Committee members or ILCA staff, but are judged only by the four judges who are practicing professionals in the fields of landscape construction, education, architecture and horticulture. To promote unbiased judgement, ILCA staff, committee members and judges take the utmost care to ensure anonymity. Staff members separate entries by category and make certain no identification of the landscape contractor or design company appears on the slides, photos, plans or forms.