Nominations open for Alexandria's 2026 Ellen Pickering Environmental Excellence Award
Annual honor recognizes environmental leadership in the city; submissions due March 16
The city of Alexandria and AlexRenew are accepting nominations for the 2026 Ellen Pickering Environmental Excellence Award, an annual honor recognizing residents, organizations and businesses that demonstrate exceptional environmental leadership.
Nominations opened Tuesday and must be submitted through the online nomination form by Monday, March 16. Self-nominations are welcome and encouraged. The award will be presented during the Del Ray GardenFest on Sunday, April 26, as part of the city’s Earth Month activities.
The award, established in 2009, honors the legacy of Ellen Pickering, a longtime Alexandria activist and public servant whose environmental advocacy spanned decades. Pickering first gained prominence more than 40 years ago for her lobbying efforts that helped create the Mount Vernon Trail between Alexandria and Washington, D.C. She was deeply committed to preserving the city’s waterfront, urging adoption of the city’s Open Space Plan and lobbying to protect Founder’s Park from high-rise development.
Pickering served on city council as an independent from 1976 to 1979 and on AlexRenew’s board of directors from 1992 to 2007. As chair of the Alexandria Beautification Commission, she led the planting of 1,000 citizen-donated cherry trees. She also chaired the Northern Virginia Conservation Council for many years and won two Salute to Women Awards from the city’s Commission on Women.
To be eligible, individual nominees must live within the city, and groups, clubs, organizations and businesses must operate within Alexandria. Nominees’ actions must have had a direct impact on protecting the city’s natural environment and resources.
The selection committee, made up of representatives from AlexRenew, the Alexandria Environmental Policy Commission and the Pickering family, scores nominations across five categories: environmental impact and accomplishments, which carries the most weight at 35%; community engagement and education at 25%; innovation and leadership at 20%; collaborative partnerships at 10%; and alignment with Pickering’s legacy of grassroots activism at 10%.
Strong nominations include specific, measurable impacts such as the number of volunteers engaged, waste diverted or emissions reduced, as well as the duration of the nominee’s efforts and the breadth of their community engagement.
Last year’s recipient, William “Bill” Hendrickson, was recognized for more than 30 years of advocacy for open space, sustainability and smart development in Alexandria. Hendrickson launched the Del Ray House and Garden Tour in 1999 to fund tree planting and other green initiatives and played a key role in developing the Potomac Yard Plan, which led to a major new city park.
The award has recognized a range of honorees since its inception, from individuals such as its inaugural winners Elizabeth Chimento and Poul Hertel in 2009, to organizations including the Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail in 2023, St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School in 2016 and the UpCycle Creative Reuse Center in 2014.
Nomination criteria, submission requirements and the online form are available on the Ellen Pickering Environmental Excellence Award webpage on the city’s website.