Osprey Awards

Every other year, the Kawartha Lakes Municipal Heritage Committee hosts the Osprey Heritage Awards. These awards are given out to members of the community who have made an exemplary contribution to the preservation and promotion of heritage in Kawartha Lakes.

Nominations are now closed for the 2025 Osprey Heritage Awards. Review of the nominations will take place in fall and awards presentation and the announcement of the winners will take place in December 2025.

Explore Our Awards Categories

Publication & Research

This award recognizes a non-fiction work about Kawartha Lakes archeological, built, cultural and/or natural heritage (example: exhibits, books, articles, etc.)

Community Heritage

This award recognizes a volunteer-based organization or individual that promotes and/or protects heritage in the City of Kawartha Lakes

Heritage Restoration / Adaptive Reuse

This award recognizes the following:

Preservation work that protects, maintains and stabilizes the original form, material and integrity of a historic place
Rehabilitation work involving sensitive adaptation of an historic place or individual component for a continuing or compatible contemporary use
Restoration work that reveals, recovers or represents the state of an historic place or individual component as it appeared at a particular period in its history
Property and buildings well maintained

Heritage Milestone Award

The Heritage Milestone Award celebrates, in 25 year increments, the dedication of heritage organizations within the City of Kawartha Lakes and is presented to any heritage organization that has reached that milestone the year of the awards or in the previous year. This award will be presented to the heritage organization recipient(s) the same date as the Osprey Heritage Awards. Heritage organizations are defined as community museums, archives and historical societies.

Nomination Process

Nominations will be accepted for any individual, organization or businesses in Kawartha Lakes that has had an impact on local heritage in one of the award categories.
Nominees must be informed of and consent to the nomination. You may self-nominate.
Individual nominees must reside, work or invest in the City of Kawartha Lakes
Business and organization nominees must have a location in the City of Kawartha Lakes
Projects and programs being nominated must be completed before they are eligible for an award.

museum interior with large stained glass

Award Eligibility

All property uses are eligible (residential, commercial, institutional, private, public, etc.)
All heritage categories are eligible (archeological, built, cultural, and/or natural, etc.)
Active members of the City of Kawartha Lakes Municipal Heritage Committee and all related committees and working groups are not eligible for award nomination.

The awards are adjudicated by the Kawartha Lakes Municipal Heritage Committee who provide recommendations to Council as to the award recipients. All decisions are final.