Each year at the annual conference IAATE presents a series of awards recognizing significant achievements by its members in several fields. Members may also apply for grant funding for conservation projects with the grant awards being made at the conference. You can check past Awards & Grant winners here.
Submission Deadlines
Deadline September 1, 2024: Walter Crawford Memorial Scholarship
Deadline 2024 TBD: Conservation Grant Application Submission
Deadline 2024 TBD: Education Grant Application Submission
Deadline January 15, 2025: Behavior Showcase Submission
Deadline January 15, 2025: Photo Contest Submission
WALT CRAWFORD MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
Have you dreamed of attending our annual conference, but lack the funds to do so? If so, this scholarship might be the answer to your dreams! IAATE will once again award monies to eligible IAATE members to assist in funding attendance of our annual conference. This scholarship fund is limited, it is funded by the proceeds from our conference workshops of the previous year and will be awarded only to applicants who meet eligibility requirements. The recipient of this scholarship will be determined by the IAATE Professional Development Committee. For more information and to apply, click below.
The deadline for application submission for our 2025 conference is September 1, 2024.
Note: While you must be an IAATE member to apply, there is no minimum membership time requirement for eligibility.
EDUCATION GRANT
IAATE Education Grants are awarded to members to develop and support their programs in achieving their educational goals. The winners will be announced at the Annual Conference Banquet. Attendance at the conference is not a requirement but is encouraged. Supporting materials such as videos and pictures can be included with the application.
CONSERVATION GRANT
IAATE Conservation Grants are open to any individual or organization proposing work that will support the IAATE’s mission. However, projects must be sponsored by, or include a role for, an IAATE member in good standing. Projects being awarded grant funding will be announced at the annual conference Banquet. Attendance at the conference is not a requirement but is encouraged. Supporting materials such as videos and pictures can be included with the application.
HIGH FLYER AWARD
This award will be given to the paper that the conference attendees vote as the best. All conference attendees get to vote on their favorite paper; so to have a chance at winning this award all you have to do is present a paper. All presenters for the conference have their papers automatically entered for the High Flyer Award. Note that only papers submitted by the submission deadline are eligible.
BEHAVIOR SHOWCASE
Every year the opening day of IAATE’s annual conference kicks off with a celebration of our members’ training successes with the IAATE Behavior Showcase. This video montage sets the stage for a wonderful conference experience with members sharing and learning from each other. Do you have a training
success you would like to share with the attendees of the IAATE annual conference? Would you like to inspire other facilities to reach new heights in
training? Get your cameras out and capture your team’s achievements!
This year, we are accepting submissions in the following categories:
- Cooperative Care
- Birds voluntarily participating in their own care
e.g. stationing, stepping on a scale, self-loading into a crate, voluntary nail or talon trims
- Birds voluntarily participating in their own care
- Audience Connection/Show Behaviors
- Nose to beak connections between guests and birds
e.g. close encounters, audience participation, dynamic flight, hunting/foraging, mimicry, etc.
- Nose to beak connections between guests and birds
- Just for Fun
- Anything else, as long as it’s good for the bird!
The deadline for submission is January 15, 2025. See below for submission guidelines. Videos that are edited with text overlay and (royalty free) music are strongly encouraged. Click here to watch a 9 minute video tutorial to use free, online video editing software!
- Please record in landscape orientation rather than portrait
- Please submit only Mp4 files with h.264 compression
- Full HD 1080 (1920×1080) is preferable
- Submissions less than 1280×720 will not be accepted
- Please avoid copyright infringement by using royalty free music
- Please use text overlays on your video rather than dialogue
- Text describing the process or providing context is strongly encouraged
- Please keep the video length to three minutes or less
- Please consider the welfare of the bird and the safety of the audience and trainer during the behavior, submissions will be reviewed for safety and welfare
- Submissions may be returned with requests for re-recording or editing
- IAATE reserves the right to decline submissions
- Please name your file using the following naming convention: institutionname_IAATE2025.mp4
e.g. CascadesRaptorCenter_IAATE2025.mp4
CHECK BACK SOON FOR SUBMISSION LINK
PHOTO CONTEST
Enter your photos for a chance win prizes – $250 in Amazon.com gift certificates were awarded last year! And see your winning photos in the IAATE Flyer! Scroll down to watch the 2024 Photo Contest.
Categories:
Portraits of Birds
Action: Flying, jumping, running, bathing etc.
People and Birds: Birds and trainers in shows, birds and audience members, funny moments with birds, etc.
Left and right 2023 Photo Contest winner: Kea (Nestor notabilis) by Cassie Crawford – and Spring 2023 Flyer cover.
Contest Rules:
- 2025 Entry Deadline: All entries must be submitted by January 15, 2025. Entries are pre-judged before the conference and presented in a slide show at the banquet. The entry deadline is not flexible, so please plan ahead.
- Contest open to IAATE member photographers only! You must take your own photos to enter. No 2nd party non-member photos please. Selfies are ok.
- AMATEUR photographers only (a professional photographer is defined as making 40% or more of their annual salary from selling photos).
- Entries must be sent emailed as jpegs, send via file sharing or on a USB stick. Please email Kim Caldwell to determine what file sharing method is compatible. The USB stick will only be returned in a self-addressed stamped envelope. Please submit photos of 300dpi or better. You may send images via email as long as they are full size images of 1-3MBs. If you send compressed images by email, the quality may be compromised. We really want these photos to look good in print, so the higher quality is important. Sending photos individually is fine. A return email will be sent to confirm receipt of the photos. If you do not receive a confirmation email, I did not receive the photos.
- No more than 10 entries per individual.
- Photographer grants IAATE permission to use the photos in any IAATE publication, including the IAATE web site. All other rights retained by Photographer. Please no watermarks on the photo entries. Any watermarked photos can not be used in the contest.
- Please clean up your photo entries if scanned. Cropping is ok. No modifications will be made to photos for judging once received. Please do not send images larger than 5MB (closed file size). 1-3MB is sufficient.
- Please use the species common name and your own name as the file name: Goldeneagle.KimCaldwell.jpg, and Blackcrownedcrane.HelenDishaw.jpg. This will help IAATE with the filing system to access photos in the future for our publications.
All entries must be accompanied by:
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Category of each entry
Email to Kim Caldwell at KBCaldwell@cox.net
