pink flamingo

Brian Patterson and Jack Zunino put their heads together in 1990 to define a year-end celebration for local landscape architecture professionals. At the time, ASLA members in Nevada belonged to a sub-section of the California ASLA chapter. Instead of coming up with a dignified theme, Brian decided to go with the tackiest representation of the profession he could think of, a pink flamingo. Brian and Jack didn’t realize that plastic pink flamingos would cost about $10 each, so in order to decorate a room and make a statement, a lot of pink flamingos would be needed. The flock was built over time, each year 10 to 20 plastic flamingos were purchased. The goal was to have enough of the plastic birds to fill a meeting room at the Flamingo Hilton at some point. Vendors and suppliers joined in on the fun and would donate pink flamingo items to be raffled at the annual banquet. ASLA chapter members started adding accessories to many of the birds, including top hats. Once the chapter was large enough to have a Nevada awards event, the Pink Flamingo Banquet was combined with the annual awards event.

acknowledgments

awards

The awards program is intended to promote professional excellence and highlight the aesthetic and environmental benefits of the built landscape to the public. Contributions to the chapter are acknowledged through the President’s Award and Trustee’s Award. Contributions from non-chapter members for management and conservancy of natural resources and/or public landscapes in Nevada are acknowledged through the Award of Honor.

Design and planning excellence is acknowledged through the Annual Landscape Architecture Awards. Awards are given under a number of categories, with one project taking the Project of the Year prize.

Design and planning categories are as follows:

Commercial, retail, office or mixed use design

Institutional design
Multi-family residential design
Professional landscape analysis and planning
Park design
Resort design
Single-family residential design
Student design work
Trail design
Un-built design

$2,500 for landscape architecture students

NVASLA has $2,500 to give out in scholarships at The Pink Flamingo this year held on Saturday, January 18, 2025.

The submissions will be reviewed and ranked by the NVASLA scholarship committee, and winners will be contacted and notified by Tuesday, January 7, 2025. Scholarship award and recognition will be given out in-person at the Pink Flamingo banquet if you are able to attend (the ticket to attend will be complimentary for winners of the scholarship). Attendance of the pink flamingo is not required to win the scholarship. There will be a time slot at the Pink Flamingo to highlight the scholarship winners.

- 1 project board of your favorite/best project you’ve completed while in a Landscape Architecture program within the last 2 years.
- On the project board/pdf, please include your full name, professor’s name, and the date you did the project. Group projects are not allowed, this must be a project you have worked on alone under the supervision of your professor.
- Page, 24x36 landscape format PDF is all that will be reviewed. No backside, just 1 page. Include all project information, renderings, etc. you wish to convey on one board to represent the project and your work.
- Please email secretary@nvasla.com your best/favorite work.
You must be enrolled in an accredited Landscape Architecture program currently at UNLV or a similar program at Truckee Meadows Community College.

In your email to the NVASLA secretary with your submission, please give us your contact information: Full (first and last) name, email address, and phone number to contact you.
Thursday, January 2, 2025 at 11:59 PM