Last updated: November 15, 2022
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2021 Freeman Tilden Award Recipients
The Freeman Tilden Awards are the highest interpretation awards presented to a National Park Service individual or team to recognize outstanding contributions to the profession of interpretation. The award was created to inspire and reward creative thinking and original programs and projects in our national parks that result in positive and meaningful impacts for the visitors and the preservation of parks.
We are pleased to congratulate the national recipients of the 2021 Freeman Tilden Awards for Excellence in Interpretation. These national award recipients’ contributions during this past year model excellence, achievement, and innovation in the profession of interpretation and visitor engagement.
Individual Award
This award celebrates outstanding contributions to the profession of interpretation performed by an individual in fiscal year 2021.
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- Duration:
- 2 minutes, 6 seconds
Visual Media Specialist Caitlin “Caiti” Campbell accepts the 2021 Freeman Tilden Individual Award for Excellence in Interpretation for her work on the Lewis and Clark Trail Junior Ranger Program.
NPS Photo
Caitlin Campbell, Lewis and Clark Trail
The Lewis and Clark Trail Junior Ranger Program was designed by Visual Media Specialist Caitlin “Caiti” Campbell to tell multiple perspectives, demonstrate the diverse make-up of the Corps of Discovery, be widely accessible, and engage partners and visitors in the telling and learning of a complex story. The program consists of an activity journal, read-along videos, native names audio clips, a tactile/braille trail map, and promotional products. Currently the program is being offered at 34 locations, in 13 states along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.
Caiti designed the program in a way that partner sites see themselves and can guide their visitors to find the stories that illuminate their local interpretive themes. The program helps participants feel included in the Lewis and Clark story by engaging with classically underrepresented topics like the importance of Tribes and the diversity of expedition members. Before a prospective Junior Ranger learns anything about Lewis and Clark, they are guided to understand that long before the expedition, a huge web of Tribal territories was already in existence. Learners are led to think deeply about whose Tribal homelands they are visiting
Team Award
This award celebrates outstanding accomplishments of a group in fiscal year 2021.
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- Duration:
- 1 minute, 30 seconds
The interpretation team at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve accepts the 2021 Freeman Tilden Team Award for Excellence in Interpretation for their inclusive and holistic integration of traditional indigenous knowledge into the parkwide interpretive approach.
NPS Photos
Lucas Wescott, Megan Richotte, Karen Evanoff, Kara Lewandowski, Anne Lattka, Tewosret Vaughn, and Monty Rogers of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve
The interpretation team at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve was awarded the national 2021 Freeman Tilden Award for Excellence in Interpretation for their inclusive and holistic integration of traditional indigenous knowledge into the parkwide interpretive approach. Lake Clark National Park and Preserve is striving to fully integrate traditional indigenous knowledge, Dena'ina knowledge, and science into its interpretive experiences.
The park has worked to construct exhibits, website pages, and social media ensuring people and cultures speak for themselves. This approach has allowed Lake Clark National Park and Preserve to fundamentally change the way they develop interpretive products. Interpretive staff collaborated with the park’s cultural anthropologist to develop a core philosophy surrounding working with Native science and interpreting cultural landscapes. This partnership strengthened relationships with Tribal partners and ensured integration of content gained from cultural resource studies and Tribal perspectives into interpretive products. Two signature programs that came from this collaborative approach were the Village Day Camps (elementary age) and the Quk Taz Un Culture Camps (middle/high school age).