The Vanier Medal

An Award in Public Service Excellence

First presented in 1962, The Institute of Public Administration awards the Vanier Medal as a mark of distinction and exceptional achievement to a person who has shown distinctive leadership in public administration and public service in Canada, or who has made a significant contribution in the field of public administration or public service in Canada.

Georges Vanier, then Governor General of Canada, consented to have the medal known as "The Vanier Medal of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada."

Awards given by IPAC recognize excellence in public service and public administration across Canada. The Administration Excellence awards are given to leaders across the Public Administration field.

Key Dates
Winner Announcement
Nomination Deadline
IPAC 2023 Annual Conference
MARCH 31st, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. EDT
About the Award

This award is given annually to an individual with medium- to long-term service in the field of public administration. Nominees will have made a significant impact to the public interest and contributed to increased confidence and trust in public administration. Nominated individuals must be able and willing to provide an insightful lecture at a future IPAC event.

Previous Years Recipients
Yaprak
Yaprak Baltacioglu awarded the 2021 IPAC Vanier Medal

Toronto, July 5, 2021 - Today, Kelly Gillis, president of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC), announced that the 2021 IPAC Vanier Medal will be awarded to Yaprak Baltacioğlu for her invaluable contributions to public service.

"I am honoured and very grateful to receive the 2021 IPAC Vanier Medal," said Baltacioğlu, who was born in Turkey and came to Canada at the age of 21 after earning a law degree at Istanbul University. "Serving my adopted country of Canada was the greatest honour of my life and it brings me great pleasure to be recognized for this service."

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The 2022 Vanier Award will be presented at the upcoming IPAC 75th Annual Conference.

Submission Process

All submissions for IPAC awards will use the same nomination form. Nominations must include a concise description of the nominee and/or the nominee's initiative that commenced and was implemented in 2022. Nominators should not be directly involved with the work of the nominee. Nominations should be no longer than 1000 words, approximately 5000-6000 characters. References are critical; each nomination must be accompanied by a minimum of two references from individuals who were not directly involved with the nominee’s work.

The nomination submission should address the following three criteria:

  • Meaningful results with extensive, documented impact
  • Effectiveness, efficiencies and/or cost savings
  • Scalability as a prototype for others to use

Additional consideration will be given to projects with regard to the following criteria:

  • Implications for good environmental stewardship
  • Equity, inclusion, and diversity
  • Digitally grounded.

All nominees selected for the shortlist of their respective award must consent to their nomination for the award.

Awards granted to teams (e.g., Innovation Award) shall be granted to a maximum of ten members of the team.

Click here to access the nomination form Cliquez ice pour la version française
Juries & Commitees

Adjudication of IPAC Awards has a two-tier process. The nominations are screened by an awards committee that will develop a shortlist of the nominations. The shortlist is then submitted to the Awards Jury. The shortlisted nominees will be given an opportunity to present to the jury on their submission and answer any questions that the jury may have. The jury will then determine the winner for each category.

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To submit a nomination, fill this nomination form and submit it before the closing date.

Winner will be contacted before the Annual Conference in September

If you need to confirm receipt, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]