Wes Danielewicz Receives 2011 Edwin Budding Award at BIGGA Conference

Every year the IGCEMA awards one outstanding person the "Edwin Budding Award” and 2011 proved to be no different. This year the winner had the opportunity to travel to Harrogate, UK to attend the BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition (BTME) to accept the award, sponsored by Ransomes-Jacobsen.

(Above - Left to Right - David Withers - Ransomes/Jacobsen, Wes Danielewicz - Budding Winner, Chris Minton - Past IGCEMA Board Member & The Belfry)

The award recognizes those individuals who go above and beyond for the turf equipment management profession. Individuals who do their day-to-day jobs and when that’s done they continue to make contributions for the betterment of our industry, whether it be through designing equipment, teaching classes, volunteering, or giving back. The one thing each of the past Budding Award winners has in common is not only their personal goals of being good at what they do, but to help make everyone else better as well. These individuals have given of themselves and never asked for anything in return, and the IGCEMA wanted to recognize these individuals.

Today at the BTME in Harrogate, UK, we announced the 2011 winner Wes Danielewicz. Wes has been involved in the industry for over 25 years and much of that time has been spent with the Turf Equipment Technicians Association (TETA), a volunteer organization based in Plainfield, Illinois, where Wes continues to serve as Executive Director.

IGCEMA President John Patterson stated: "It’s good to see Wes receiving recognition for his efforts on such a prestigious stage at the BTME in Harrogate. Wes certainly deserves this award, and we look forward to working with TETA in the future.”

This year, and what seems to be every other year recently, we have seen a chain reaction. In 2009 Eddie Conrad from Canada won the Edwin Budding Award and was due to receive it at the Golf Industry Show (GIS) in the US. Due to some passport complications he was unable to attend GIS. Last year Vollie Carr was awarded and everything went perfectly. This year our plans had IGCEMA Secretary/Treasurer Mike Kriz attending to present the award, however his flight was canceled which put him a day behind and missing the presentation. Former IGCEMA Board member Chris Minton was able to attend, and Chris presented the opening statements regarding the award. The IGCEMA would like to thank Jim Croxton and BIGGA, Ransomes-Jacobsen, Chris Minton, and Carrie Riordan from GCSAA for assisting us during this unfortunate turn of events. We would also like to thank all of the 2011 nominees for going above and beyond for our profession. We look forward to seeing many more nominees in 2012.