Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners

2025 Nomination Guidelines

2025 Key Dates

Nomination submission deadline	January 20, 2025, 11:59 p.m. PT
Notifications sent to nominators and successful nominees	March 2025
Public announcement of new Fellows	May 29, 2025
Honours and awards ceremony – Toronto, ON	TBD

Eligible Nominees

The FCIP designation may be granted to a planner who meets the following two criteria:

1. is and has been a member of CIP in good standing for ten or more years
   
   or
   
   is an individual who was a member of CIP who is now retired, as defined in the by-laws
   
   or
   
   is an individual who was a member of CIP in good standing and nominated posthumously within five (5) years of death
   
2. has achieved a high degree of excellence in at least two of the following categories and made a nationally significant contribution in one of them:

• Professional practice
• Teaching and mentoring planners
• Planning and community research
• Community service and leadership in the profession

CIP celebrates and promotes diversity, equality, and inclusion by offering equal opportunities to all qualified individuals, without regard to race, colour, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, or appearance. CIP believes that honouring those who reflect the diversity of our membership and the Canadian population makes us stronger.

Submit a Nomination

Any professional (MCIP®/FCIP) or retired member of CIP in good standing can nominate a Fellow.

In an effort to circumvent bias, CIP has enacted strict requirements outlining who is ineligible to nominate a Fellow. The following individuals cannot nominate a Fellow or draft a letter of support:

• a member of the CIP Honours Jury
• a member of the CIP Board of Directors

The nominator is responsible for the creation of a complete dossier package and its timely submission. Nominators are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the submission requirements and deadlines. They must be familiar with the nominee’s work and have an ethical duty to ensure that the dossier is accurate.

The nominator is responsible for preparing the nomination dossier without the knowledge of the nominee. The confidentiality of the submission from the nominee is mandatory. Failure to meet this requirement may result in a submission being refused. Further, it is strongly recommended that the family of the nominee not be informed of the nomination.

The written submission is vitally important as the Honours Jury depends on the content of the dossier to make its recommendation. The jury does not seek other information.

Categories of Achievement

A nominee’s dossier must demonstrate excellence and breadth of planning experience in at least two of the following four categories. The individual’s nationally or internationally significant contribution to planning must be shown in at least one category*.

1. Professional Practice

The nominee demonstrates exceptional achievement in planning practice and the mastery of planning theory, approaches, and techniques. These should be illustrated in the development and implementation of plans, projects, or policies, in communities of any size and at any jurisdictional level and supported by evidence of significant accomplishments in the following areas:

1. professional practice over an extended period of time
2. planning contributions that demonstrate a mastery of the principles of planning
3. responsibility for planning contributions that have made a significant and positive change in a community
4. demonstrated ability to transfer planning knowledge and practice from one location to others
   
   2. Teaching and Mentoring Planners

The nominee demonstrates exceptional achievement in advancing and sharing planning knowledge and practice through teaching planning and/or mentoring planners outside of an employee-employer relationship. This should be supported by evidence of significant accomplishments in the following areas:

1. teaching and/or mentoring over an extended period of time
2. influence on the practice of planning within Canadian and/or international contexts
3. leadership in advancing the teaching of planning and/or mentoring of planners
4. long-standing and exceptional commitment to planning education
   
   3. Planning and Community Research

The nominee demonstrates exceptional achievement through a significant contribution to the theoretical basis of planning and its practice. This should be supported by evidence of significant accomplishments in the following areas:

1. research over an extended period of time
2. innovation in planning and community research
3. application of research to planning practice in Canadian and/or international contexts
   
   4. Community Service and Leadership in the Profession

The nominee demonstrates exceptional achievement and breadth of experience in advancing the planning profession and the principles of planning for the benefit of the public domain. This should be supported by evidence of significant accomplishments in the following areas:

1. community service in planning through leadership over an extended period of time
2. leadership in the profession over an extended period of time
3. influence on planning that benefits the public domain and the planning profession in Canada
4. support of community lead activities that advance community involvement in planning

* Contributions of National/International Significance:

As FCIP is a national designation, particular emphasis is placed on the candidate’s contributions to professional planning at the national or international level and must be demonstrated in at least one category.

A contribution that is considered as being of national or international significance could include one or more of the following:

• The development of unusual (unique) policy, approaches to problems, designs or services that are conceived locally and offer the potential to or are subsequently adopted by other jurisdictions in various locations in Canada or internationally
• Active participation over an extended period in the formulation, debate, and/or implementation of policies and proposals that have a significant national impact
• Academic research or professional practises that make an extraordinary contribution in a national or international context
• A nominee’s international accomplishments that they introduce to the Canadian planning context may constitute a significant national contribution
• Exemplary service to CIP over an extended period in a variety of roles

Letters of Support

The letters of support included in a Fellow nomination submission are a key aspect of the dossier. Authors of letters of support should be familiar with the nominee’s work. Such letters should explain the writer’s knowledge of how the nominee meets the selection criteria.

The letters must include the following elements:

• the identity of the letter’s author
• the length of time and in what capacity, or capacities, the writer has known the nominee
• reasons why the nominee’s work is nationally significant, or outstanding for other reasons, and evidence for the assertions
• the signature of the letter’s author

Letters of support should not:

• be authored by a staff member of the same firm or immediate employer, except in the case of posthumous nominations where they will be accepted
• be simple letters of endorsement

The letters of support submitted should consider the following:

• A stronger submission provides letters from diverse sources commenting on the nominee’s achievements from different perspectives
• A stronger submission provides independent assessment of contributions from sources other than the letter-writers – assessments that speak to the significance of achievements can take many forms including prizes, awards, honours, citations, national or international publication of ideas or findings, and other means by which professional excellence is recognized
• If a contribution is described as “innovative”, explain how this contribution is truly original and impactful on planning theory, teaching, practice, or the profession
• A list of accomplishments does not by itself help the jury decide their importance – people who know the nominee need to provide context and evidence to help the jury with that assessment – please show the jury what sets this person apart from CIP’s many active and skilled members
• The writer’s knowledge of the national/international significance of the nominee’s contribution to planning (see section under Categories of Achievement)

Jury Process     

Honours Jury members are appointed by CIP’s Board of Directors and have combinations of experience in professional practice or academia. At least five members of the jury are CIP Fellows.

The tasks of the jury are to:

1. encourage nominations of outstanding planners from across Canada in an inclusive manner
2. review each completed dossier
3. recommend nominees for election as Fellows based solely on outstanding professional accomplishments and nationally significant contributions to Canadian planning
4. present recommendations to the Board of Directors of CIP for ratification

CIP’s President informs new Fellows that they have been elected, or the designate(s) for the inductee, in the case of posthumous awards. If an inductee (or designate) cannot attend the conference, an alternative venue for the presentation will be found.

Questions

Questions related to the Fellow selection process may be emailed to impact@cip-icu.ca.