Awards
The Halsey Gulick Award
The Halsey Gulick award was first presented in 1982 by the Maine Youth Camping Association to recognize people who have distinguished themselves in the field of organized youth camping in Maine. The award commemorates the leadership contributions of Maine’s J. Halsey Gulick, one of camp’s early leaders.
Recipients are selected by their colleagues in camping; anyone may recommend candidates and candidates need not be members of MSC. The award is presented at MSC’s September event at Migis Lodge.
2024 Halsey Gulick Recipient: Beigette Gill – Fernwood Cove
As the COVID-19 pandemic upended the globe, and the Maine youth camping industry along with it, this year’s award winner, serving as Maine Summer Camps board president, rose to the challenge with grace, intelligence, and quiet and confident leadership. Our 2024 Halsey Gulick recipient brought great energy and dedication as a former Education Committee chair, a remarkable listener, and she also asks insightful questions.
This year’s Halsey Gulick Award winner consistently brings her best in providing such inspiration. Honoring her as a champion of human connection, curiosity and compassion, an individual who buoyed an organization facing unparalleled obstacles with tremendous care and capability. Maine Summer Camps presents the 2024 Halsey Gulick Award to Beigette Gill.
2024 Recipient Beigette Gill Award Citation
Recipients of the Halsey Gulick Award
The Jack Erler Award
The Jack Erler Award is given for outstanding contributions to organized camping, as exemplified by Jack Erler’s long-time invaluable contributions to Maine Summer Camps. It is presented to individuals, groups, or organizations that may or may not be members of Maine Summer Camps, to recognize exceptional support of Maine Summer Camps. The award recipient will be chosen by the Maine Summer Camps Awards Committee upon determination of an appropriate candidate. This award commemorates Jack Erler’s commitment to Maine youth camping, which has extended throughout his 50-year career as an attorney, collaborator, and advocate.
2025 Erler Award Recipient – Jim Chalmers
This year’s Jack Erler Award recipient – the third ever recipient of the award – is described by camp directors as knowledgeable, compassionate, empathetic, and generous. That this year’s awardee is not a camp owner or director speaks volumes about his ability to support camps and, as one camp administrator says, serve as a “trusted counselor and advisor.”. Camp directors also praise the recipient’s extraordinary generosity of time and experience.
His business has for years sponsored a broad range of MSC events, including educational workshops, webinars, and the Maine social gathering at the ACA, New England annual conference. These generous contributions are truly valuable to camp professionals, making “the camping industry a better industry – more safe and more effective for kids,” says one camp director.
For all these extraordinary qualities, and his outstanding service in support of organized youth camping in Maine, Maine Summer Camps presents the 2025 Jack Erler award to Chalmers Insurance Group Chief Sales Officer Jim Chalmers.
2025 Erler Award Recipient Jim Chalmers Citation
Past Recipients of the Jack Erler Award
Dedication to Camping Recognition
This is MSC’s recognition of those who have dedicated a significant amount of time working in Maine organized youth camping.
Eligibility for Dedication to Camping Recognition:
- Any staff member, current or former, regardless of their camp position, is eligible.
- Length of service must be 25 years or more for initial nominees.
- Service fully or predominantly to Maine camps.
- Service does not have to be consecutive or to one camp.
- Count years as staff member, not years as a camper.
- Can be seasonal or year-round.
Recognition:
A list of award recipients will be distributed at the MSC Annual Meeting, in the MSC newsletter, and awardees names will be posted on a special page of the MSC Website. Recipients will receive a certificate from MSC. There will be no MSC ceremony or in-person awards, however many camps give out the recognition certificate at a camp awards event.