CPC 2025

AWARDS​

Avocationalist Award

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Great discoveries are made, and great things are done, by people who have no formal training in paleontology but who are passionate about ancient life, fossils, and the preservation of fossil sites. Whether it is donating a fossil collection to an institution, protecting and/or maintaining a site of paleontological importance, volunteering in fossil prep or outreach, or fundraising to build a fossil museum, avocational palaeontologists play a huge role in the Canadian palaeontology community.

The PD Division has created a new award to recognizes the role of avocational paleontology in Canada. This new, yet unnamed, award will recognize and celebrate the contributions of non-professional paleontologists to the field, helping to send the message that avocational palaeologists of are all ages are important and valued. The new Avocational Paleontologist Award will be the fourth award offered by the Division, along with the Billings Medal for Lifetime Achievement, the Pikaia Award for Early Career Researchers, and the Thomas E. Bolton Award for an exceptional student presentation at the Canadian Paleontology Conference (CPC). The awards will be offered in a three-year cycle, excepting the Bolton Award which will be awarded annually at CPC.

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On award years, nominations are taken in advance of the annual CPC conference. Include ‘Avocational Palaeontologist Award Nomination’ in the subject heading.

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Nominations are due Monday November 3rd, 2025

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A complete nomination package should include the following:

1. Information form on the candidate. (Form Provided)

2. A Code of Conduct declaration form the nominee to declare are in good standing to receive the award. (Form Provided)

3. TWO letters of recommendation (2-page max) from people who support the nomination. Digital files/images of separately signed nomination pages (e.g. in .pdf format) are acceptable.

4. A brief biography (2-page max) describing the candidate's accomplishments in paleontology. Please ensure to talk about anything relevant to these points.

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Thomas E. Bolton Award (Best Student Talk)

The Paleontology Division of the Geological Association of Canada gives an award to acknowledge excellence in paleontological research by a student through their paper presentation at the Canadian Paleontology Conference. The first of the Thomas E. Bolton Awards was presented in 1998 at the Eighth Canadian Paleontology Conference in Collingwood, Ontario.

 

The award has been named in honor of Tom Bolton. Just a few weeks after being awarded the Billings Medal, Thomas Elwood Bolton passed away on November 21st, 1997. The medal, named after the Geological Survey of Canada’s first paleontologist, was a fitting tribute to a man who had dedicated his life to the furtherance of geology and paleontology. The citation for the medal included the statement that “No individual has done more for Canadian paleontology than Tom Bolton”.

 

Tom’s lifelong career with the GSC began in 1952. His research covered a remarkable diversity of Ordovician and Silurian organisms including trilobites, eurypterids, corals, brachiopods, crinoids, cystoids, bryozoans, sponges, nautiloids, gastropods and pelecypods. Not only was Tom an acknowledged authority in his field, he was Curator of the National Collection of Type Invertebrate and Plant Fossils for over 30 years. He left a legacy of eight volumes of the Catalogue of Type Fossil Invertebrates and one Catalogue of Type Plant Fossils. These provide data on over 130,000 specimens collected from the days of Sir William Logan in the last century to 1993.

 

The hallmarks of Tom’s work were cheerful involvement, modesty, effectiveness, and a willingness to involve others. His enthusiasm for paleontology was contagious, and he delighted in talking to those who shared his passion whether they were “professional” paleontologists or not. If you liked fossils, Tom would share his knowledge with you. It is appropriate that the award for paleontological research by a student is named in his honour.

 

All students who present their research at CPC 2024 can be considered for the Thomas E. Bolton award.

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