Elgin Mayor's Awards for Preservation seeking nominations

The Elgin Heritage Commission is seeking nominations for the 2022 Mayor's Awards for Historic Preservation.

Applications are available on the city's website and are due by 5 p.m. Feb. 25.

"We have a lot of great historic properties but also great historic advocacy groups, so we want to make sure we acknowledge those that have done amazing work here," said historic preservation planner Christen Sundquist.

The awards are given to individuals, groups and organizations who lead a preservation project, save one or more historical properties, educate and promote an awareness of Elgin's heritage, conduct creative historic projects relating to archival or object collections, or maintain a continuous cultural or historical organization for 50 years or more.

In addition, the commission uses the event to educate the community about the value of Elgin's unique architecture, neighborhoods and history.

"It's always nice to be able to showcase what's going on in Elgin," Sundquist said. "People living off Randall (Road) or on the west side might not know all of what Elgin has to offer."

There are eight award categories. The winners will be announced at the Mayor's Awards event scheduled for May 3 at the Elgin Math and Science Academy, located at 1600 Dundee Ave.

Sundquist said the event may or may not be open to the public, depending on how the pandemic situation changes over the next couple of months. The event will be broadcast online through the city's social media channels.

Sundquist hopes the public can attend and check out the newly renovated 1950s-era gymnasium at EMSA.

"The campus is wonderful, and they're doing some amazing preservation work there," Sundquist said.