Awards

Nominees must: 

• • be a Kingston resident, organization, or business 
  • have demonstrated positive accessibility contributions in the past three years.
  • not have accessibility-related roles in their paid work or education, unless they demonstrate an exceptional accomplishment.

Nominators must: 

• • Explain the nominee’s achievements in one or more of the following categories: 
    • • Built environment: designing, modifying, or renovating buildings, interiors, or outdoor spaces to remove barriers and improve access for people with disabilities. 
      • Customer service: removing barriers that prevent customers with disabilities from accessing the services they need.
      • Design of public spaces: making communal spaces such as trails, beaches, rest stops, outdoor play spaces, accessible parking or outdoor paths of travel more accessible.  
      • Education: removing barriers to student participation in learning at all levels from kindergarten to post-secondary and adult education. 
      • Employment: employers or coworkers making their workplaces and practices accessible to potential or current workers with disabilities. 
      • Health Care: making the health care system more accessible to patients with disabilities and their support people. 
      • Information and Communication: creating, providing, and receiving information and communications that people with disabilities can access. 
      • Transportation: making the features and equipment on transportation services, including routes and vehicles, accessible to passengers with disabilities. 
  • Can include support letters, testimonials, images, media links, or any other materials to support their nomination.

A Selection Committee, consisting of up to four Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee members, chooses the award recipients. Nomination reviews are confidential, and decisions are final. 

The Selection Committee may accept incomplete and / or late nominations at their discretion. 

Learn more about our 2024 award winners.

2024 

• Community Member: Rachel Doornekamp
• Community Organization: Inclusive Play Project volunteers
• Business: Purely Mobile Hygiene, 4Cats Arts Studio

2023 

• Community Member: Eva Carlin, Amber Potter 
• Community Organization: Bloom Skills Centre, Extend-A-Family Kingston 

2022 

• Community Member: Bailey Daniels, Claire Davies, Leah Riddell 
• Community Organization: Polson Park Public School 

2021 

• Business: YGK Thrift 
• Community Member: Yessica Rivera Belsham 
• Community Organization: Lionhearts Inc. 

1. First Capital Distinguished Citizen: Open to all ages. This is the highest civic honour in Kingston. It recognizes a person who has spent their life doing volunteer work and who has made a significant impact on our community.   
2. Honourable Achievement: Open to all ages. This award celebrates volunteers who have made a difference in the community through their volunteer work. 
3. Civic Award for Youth Volunteerism: Open to ages 24 and under. This award recognizes youth who have demonstrated values of community service and inspired others through their volunteerism. 

First Capital Distinguished Citizen

Yessica Rivera Belsham

Yessica's commitment to community service spans decades in the arts, culture, health and wellness sectors. She previously immersed herself in healthcare volunteerism by serving on executive teams for various nursing conferences and symposiums in addition to being of service as an executive member for the Gerontological Nursing Association of Ontario; Registered Nursing Association of Ontario - Kingston Chapter; Palliative Care Nursing Interest Group; and Mental Health Nursing Interest Group. For many years, she was also an avid volunteer for Hospice Kingston with in-home hospice and grief and bereavement support. During the last decade, Yessica collaborated with and was a part of many teams for a variety of local events including Kingston Community Health Centre special events; Kingston National Indigenous Peoples Day; Sisters in Spirit Tributes to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit Peoples (MMIWG2S+); Katarokwi Indigenous Day of Wellness; Memorial Butterfly Release; World Turtle Day Celebration and more. Since 2014, she has been the catalyst of the annual Día de Los Muertos Kingston Community Celebration of Life, Earth Day Kingston Celebration as well as Kingston International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples; Yessica continues to build more community connections as these events evolve. This year also marks ten years of Yessica facilitating the open community Ollin Drum Circles, raising community spirit and encouraging self-expression through connecting to various peoples, rhythms, songs and drums from around the world. Her nominators recognize her for celebrating diversity, accessibility and inclusivity in her work.

Honourable Achievement

Matt Dubblestein

If you ask Matt Dubblestein's friends and colleagues, they'd probably tell you 'volunteer' is a four-letter word spelled M-A-T-T. He has been a mentor with Big Brothers, Big Sisters (BBBS) of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington for nearly 20 years. According to the agency, Matt has been “an incalculably positive influence” as a mentor for local youth, and in his roles as a previous board member and BBBS president. Among other titles, he is the current Dean of Awesome for Awesome Kingston, a grassroots community organization that donates $1,000 microgrant each month to individuals or groups making Kingston a better place. Matt was a past participant in the Easter Seals Dancing with the Stars - Kingston fundraiser and he assists with many other annual events, including Amazing Race Kingston, Relay for Life and the Queen's University Nut Drive. His generous contributions have helped many local organizations improve the lives of others in the community.

Saeid and Merola Tahamtan

Saeid and Merola opened Kingston's first community fridge, which offers fresh and pantry foods to those who need them, in the west end of Kingston. Their motto for the program is, "take what you need, give what you can". Where possible, they also deliver items to those who can’t easily travel to the fridge. They sustain the project by growing and donating fresh produce and hosting several fundraisers, including a barbeque and their 'Share the Love' cookie sale and art auction. Merola's well-loved sugar cookies were also a feature of the cookie drive fundraiser the Tahamtans held for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine and Afghanistan. In addition to their joint efforts, Saeid is a member of Rotary Club of Kingston and a board member of Ryandale Transitional Housing. Merola has organized several fundraisers at the school where she teaches, including a sock drive, a mitten tree (for donations of toques, gloves and mittens), food drives and a "cake walk" dessert fundraiser with proceeds to Epilepsy Kingston. She also volunteers with Motionball Kingston, a national non-profit empowering young Canadians to be leaders in their communities.

Youth Volunteerism

Arzoi Bajwa

Despite a demanding international baccalaureate school schedule, Arzoi has managed to volunteer extensively for a range of activities. She shares her love and aptitude for science and math by offering free tutoring a couple of hours per week during the school year. As co-president of the school's science club, Arzoi also fosters students' curiosity in fun, weekly meetings and events such as Physics Brawl, an international physics tournament. She is a dedicated athlete, encouraging younger students to stay active and develop skills by running a bi-weekly sports program for Module Vanier. Her efforts are felt in the community as well, thanks to her many event contributions for the Indian Canadian Association of Kingston. She regularly helps backstage to coordinate events and has raised hundreds of dollars during fundraisers by using her artistic skills to provide henna and face art.

Daniel Wang

A personal family tragedy underlies Daniel's motivation to volunteer with a variety of health initiatives. After his mother's passing in 2012, Daniel reflected on the valuable impact the hospital volunteers had on his family’s experience. He remembers how challenging cancer treatments were for her, which prompted him to spend 80+ hours over the past year sitting with chemotherapy patients at Kingston General Hospital. As Ceremonies and Awareness Coordinator for Queen’s University Relay for Life, he raises awareness by educating others about symptoms and early detection screening. He also organizes the event's opening and closing ceremonies; altogether, the event raised a national post-secondary record-breaking $182,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society. As a member of the Tri-colour Classic Executive Committee, he is helping raise money for pediatric cancer research at SickKids Hospital through a charity basketball game. In the past year, he has also volunteered over 200 hours with Compass Community Services Teleconnect program, offering support to individuals struggling with their mental health. Finally, as a competitive athlete growing up, Daniel finds it rewarding to share his passion for sport as an assistant coach for U11 Kingston Impact Basketball Academy.

Léane Paquette

At 11 years old, Léane has already been a regular member of the school’s Humanitarian Club for several years. Both at school and at home, she helps work on the club’s various fundraising and charitable projects. She and other members create and sell ‘Amis de Poches’ (or Pocket Buddies) wool dolls, with proceeds sent to humanitarian associations locally and abroad. She also regularly helps with the Cover Us, Adopt a Blanket initiative by knitting blankets for unhoused people in Kingston. Her generosity is widely felt at school, where she cheerfully helps organize lost-and-found items, assists lunch monitors in classrooms with younger students and distributes healthy snacks from the Food Sharing Project to classrooms.

The number and type of awards are at the discretion of the jury, and may include: 

1. Award of Excellence: given to projects that demonstrate all the evaluation criteria and reflect our design goals 
2. Award of Merit: given to projects that demonstrate quality in one or more of the evaluation criteria and reflect our design goals. 

All types of development are eligible, including: 

• • Residential developments 
  • Commercial developments 
  • Industrial developments 
  • Institutional developments 
  • Mixed use developments 
  • Heritage conservation projects 
  • Recreational facilities 
  • Parks, landscaping, and open spaces 
  • Public spaces 
  • Infrastructure 
  • Streetscape improvements 

The project must: 

• • be located within the municipal boundaries of the City of Kingston. 
  • have been completed between during the eligibility period. 
  • be a physical, built element or space that is visible and / or accessible to the public. 
  • be exceptional, high-quality, and individual designs (e.g., standardized corporate templates will not be accepted). 
  • not have been nominated previously for a Livable City Design Award unless significant changes or modifications to the project have taken place. 

Anyone may nominate a project. Watch for an announcement about the nomination period and be sure to submit your nomination before the deadline. After the nomination period is closed, we will confirm eligibility and select the final nominees. 

Owners and designers of eligible projects will need to acknowledge acceptance of their nomination in writing and provide the following additional information: 

• • Description of the project including background, design merits, and how the design helps the community around it 
  • Exterior photographs of the project including exterior before and after photos (if applicable), as well as photos of the construction process highlighting the project description (if available or applicable). Interior photos are only necessary if they help elaborate on the exterior elements 
  • Copies of site plans, floor plans, and elevations of the project (if applicable) 
  • Written authorization acknowledging that the information we collect becomes part of city records and will not be returned, and that we can use all information and photos to promote the program 

Submit all information electronically and together using a USB drive, an emailed cloud-storage link, CD, or DVD. Written information must in a Word document and all photographs must be a high quality .jpeg format. 

The jury will assess nominations using the following criteria: 

• • Significance 
  • How does the project contribute to our design objectives for the city’s appearance, visual identity, views, skyline, and streetscapes? 
  • How does the project contribute to the quality of the environment within a community, respecting local surroundings, making the place feel special and safe or highlighting a unique history? 
  • Innovation: Creativity in meeting project requirements and site constraints, affordability, incorporation of technology and trendsetting.  
  • Context: How well does the design fit with other buildings and plans for the area? 
  • Execution: The quality of construction materials and the interpretation of the design into reality. 
  • Sustainable Design: Demonstrates an integrated approach to design that supports environmental and sustainable site and building practices. 
  • Accessibility: Displays a high standard of Universal Design principles as set out in the City of Kingston Official Plan and our Residential Design Guidelines. 

 Additional criteria for heritage projects: 

• • Heritage: How does the project display the highest standards of conservation practice as defined in the Official Plan, “Conservation Protocol”? 

1. Creator Award:

• • For artists or artist collectives.
  • Three awards are given each year to honour artistic merit and / or innovative ideas that foster arts in the city, contribute to artistic development, and express the cultural vitality of Kingston 
  • This award is also open to newcomers or new-to-Kingston artists who have made a profound impact in the arts in a short period of time, as well as emerging artists, youth artists, and equity-deserving artists.
  • Winners get a $2,500 cash prize, an award, and a certificate of recognition 

2. Arts Champion Award: 

• • For arts workers, organizations, volunteers, advocates, supporters, sponsors and/or philanthropists.
  • One award is given each year to celebrate an arts leader who makes an extraordinary contribution to the arts sector and empowers its sustained growth and development.
  • Winner gets a $1,000 cash price, an award and a certificate of recognition 

The Arts & Culture Advisory Committee creates a Nominations Subcommittee every year. The Subcommittee is responsible for selecting award winners based on the criteria outlined in the Terms of Reference for the Mayor’s Arts Awards. An open nominations process that launched in 2024 will be a part of the Subcommittee’s review. 

The Subcommittee consists of five to seven members who have diverse interests, experiences and perspectives related to the arts in Kingston. These members are respected and knowledgeable in the arts community. The Kingston Arts Council (KAC) leads the nominations process by acting as Chair (exofficio, non-voting) of the Nominations Subcommittee and oversees the assessment and selection of the award recipients by the Subcommittee members. 

Kingston faces a series of complex challenges as we work toward our vision of becoming a smart, livable, leading city. To address these challenges we are seeking solutions from student innovators.

In partnership with Queen's University, St. Lawrence College and the Royal Military College of Canada, we host this collaborative problem-solving platform and experiential learning opportunity. 

This year, the competition features a new prize structure, offering two separate prizes that will be awarded to different teams. Judges will select the winners based on which teams' ideas would benefit the most from each prize. 

Dunin-Deshpande Innovation Centre Prize

The team winning the Dunin-Deshpande Innovation Centre prize will be admitted to the Queen’s Founders and Innovators Initiative (QFII) program. This transformative, part-time program is designed for aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs. Winners will enter the program in May and learn how to take their early-stage startup to the next level.

The QFII program offers award-winning and internationally recognized entrepreneurship training and mentorship from industry professionals and entrepreneurs. It also provides the opportunity to unlock up to $4,000 in seed funding and a chance to compete in their pitch competition with a prize pool of up to $80,000. 

Public Sector Innovation Prize

Winners from the Public Sector Innovation prize will receive a cash prize of $10,000 towards advancing their ideas. They will also be admitted to the Summer Company Program, with access to resources, mentorship, and hands-on business mentoring from local business leaders.

The creators of the top submissions, selected by senior staff, will be invited to present their proposals at the Mayor's Innovation Challenge Pitch Competition on Friday, March 14, 2025.

Workshop Dates

MIC Workshop #1

• Date: Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025 - 5-7 p.m.
• Location: Queen's University, Mitchell Hall
• Register for Workshop #1

MIC Workshop #2 

• Date: Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025 - 3-5 p.m.
• Location: St. Lawrence College, Innovation Hub
• Register for Workshop #2

Other Key Dates

• Sunday, Feb. 23 - 11:59 p.m.: Proposal Deadline
• Tuesday, Feb. 25: Shortlist invited to student pitch competition.
• Friday, March 14: Student pitch competition at City Hall.

Send your project proposal in video format to mic@cityofkingston.ca.

Include the following details:

• Subject line: MIC 2025 Submission Video: Team name
• Identify the team lead
• Confirm email address (if the submission is not coming from the preferred email to be used for communication)

Stay in touch 

For information or questions regarding the Mayor's Innovation Challenge, contact mic@cityofkingston.ca.

Submissions must be made in video format. There are no specific restrictions or requirements for the contents of your video. Use your creativity and tell us what makes your proposed project the ideal solution.

Rules

1. No more than four members to a team.
2. All team members must be registered in a university or college program (undergraduate or graduate, full- or part-time) or have recently graduated (within six months of the September 2024 launch of the challenge) in order to be eligible for participation. A student is defined as an individual enrolled in an accredited Canadian university or a Canadian or permanent resident of Canada enrolled at a non-Canadian university. Team members may be from any academic discipline.
3. Fifty per cent of the team must be from an academic institution in Kingston.
4. Teams must select a "team lead" who will be the primary contact between the City and the team. Any changes, updates or administrative matters will be communicated to the team's primary contact. 
5. Teams are encouraged to reach out to professors or professionals in the field to act as project advisors. This is by no means mandatory and will not have any impact on the assessment of your submission.