Windsor, VT - "Clem Labine's Traditional Building" has announced that the deadline for submissions to a special Palladio Award Competition has been extended to March 21, 2003. The awards ceremony will be held in conjunction with the First National Covered Bridge Conference: Best Practices, Care, and Repair in June, 2003 on the campus of the University of Vermont in Burlington..

While some nominations have been received, Publisher Clem Labine thought it was reasonable to extend the deadline a bit to accommodate possible nominees who only learned about the awards recently.

"Traditional Building Magazine" and "Period Homes Magazine" launched the Palladio Awards program in 2000. The program is designed to honor outstanding achievements in traditional design. The program recognizes individual designers or design teams whose work enhances the beauty and humane qualities of the built environment. Nominations may be made until March 21, 2003 with notification by April 30th. Eligible projects include covered bridge repair, preservation, restoration, or reconstruction completed between 1997-2003. The award will be presented at the reception for the June 5-7, 2003 conference. Winners will receive two complimentary admissions to the Covered Bridge Conference ($420 value). Winner information will be posted on the conference website (www.uvm.edu/coveredbridges) and featured in an upcoming issue of "Traditional Building."

To access the Palladio Award competition rules and application form, visit the conference website and click on the Conference Listing under Events, go to cosponsors and click on the "Traditional Building" Covered Bridge Restoration Award or go directly to www.traditional- building.com/palladio/palladio.htm. If there are additional questions about the award or submission requirements, fax queries to (718) 636-0750 or call (718) 636-0788.

Publisher Clem Labine in announcing the awards, said, "It has been so exciting to see the revival of interest in traditional heavy-timber bridge technology. And it's equally exciting to sponsor this Special Award to honor application of that technology in Covered Bridge restoration."

Conference cosponsor, H. Thomas McGrath, Jr., Superintendent of the National Park Service Historic Preservation Training Center, Frederick, MD, said, "We are pleased to learn that "Traditional Building" has joined the Preservation Education Institute to expand the 2003 Palladio Awards to include a competitive category for Covered Bridges. A 2003 Palladio Award for Covered Bridge excellence will offer a tremendous opportunity to showcase many of the preservation projects across this nation that have been recently completed. Bringing the recognition associated with the Palladio Award to the planned National Conference: Best Practices, Care, and Repair of Covered Bridges will serve to enhance this exciting event and will expand the scope of traditional structures eligible for Palladio Awards."

Judy L. Hayward, Executive Director of the Preservation Education Institute and a conference cosponsor, said, "We are delighted to have the support of "Traditional Building Magazine" for this conference. The Conference is designed to bring technical information to light about the best practices in the care and repair of covered bridges. We are honored that the winning project will be featured in "Traditional Building" because it is an unparalleled opportunity to convey information about the National Covered Bridge Preservation Project to the professional preservation community throughout the United States."

Why a national conference?

Less than 900 wooden covered bridges remain in a nation once linked by tens of thousands. The bridges convey an important chapter in the evolution of engineering practice in the United States and are popular with tourists and residents alike for their aesthetic contributions to rural landscapes from Vermont to Oregon. Many continue in service today as vital vehicular or pedestrian connections.

"With the breadth of these contributions to modern life in mind, a conference about the best practices in Covered Bridge Repair will take place at the historic Billings Center on the University of Vermont campus in Burlington, Vermont, June 5-7, 2003," said Historic Preservation Training Center (HPTC) Superintendent Thomas McGrath.

The HPTC is working with The Preservation Education Institute in Windsor, Vermont and the graduate program in historic preservation at the University of Vermont to present the conference. The conference is presented as part of The National Historic Covered Bridge Program funded under Section 1224(b) of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), in partnership with the National Park Service, Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), is undertaking a project to document significant covered bridges in the United States.

More than 40 abstracts were received in response to a recent call for papers on the following range of topics: case studies in covered bridge repair, documenting covered bridges, engineering analysis of wooden bridges, issues of species specificity, applying the Secretary of the Interior's Standards to wooden covered bridges, fire detection and suppression systems, disaster mitigation, fund-raising strategies, maintenance programming, lost bridges, the case for building new wooden bridges, applying the timber frame craft to bridges, engineering insights into truss systems, and more.

The National Historic Covered Bridge Best Practices Conference is being planned for state and local highway engineers, state and county covered bridge maintenance personnel, volunteers charged with raising funds for the preservation of covered bridges, local and national covered bridge preservation organizations, historic preservationists, general contractors, structural engineers, covered bridge historians, the traveling public and community members. The conference organizers anticipate offering two conference tracks on subjects as diverse as bridge preservation case studies, best practices in maintaining covered bridges, and cultural tourism strategies for municipalities and states. Proceedings will be published in print and in on-line formats.

The National Historic Covered Bridge Best Practices Conference will also be the first of its kind to collect and benchmark the vast array of information that exists on covered bridges by inviting all those concerned with covered bridge preservation to participate. A goal of the conference will be to develop a national reference base for evaluating various treatments of historic covered bridges in ways that will maintain their historic integrity as National Register properties. The conference will promote a dialogue of the diverse ideas, experience, techniques and practices for historic covered bridge preservation.

Early registration for the conference is $210 if postmarked no later than April 5, 2003. Registrations postmarked between April 5 and May 15, 2003 will cost $250. Registrations after May 1 will cost $315. Single day registrations will be available up to May 1 for a cost of $140. After May 1, single day registrations will be $175. The conference registration fee includes all educational sessions, continental breakfast and lunch for two days, a bound volume of the conference presentations, and the opening reception. The third day of the conference will feature a selection of tours of Vermont and New Hampshire covered bridges for an additional fee.

The Historic Preservation Training Center is dedicated to the preservation and maintenance of historic structures of the National Park Service and its partners by demonstrating outstanding leadership in preservation education and skills and crafts development. The Center produces an on-going cadre of trained individuals who are placed in National Parks upon completion of a three-year training program. The Training Center's preservation construction services provided to parks and other Federal, state and local organizations use these projects as the training venue for its program participants. The Historic Preservation Training Center also provides preservation technical consultants to other units of the Service, Federal Agencies, and International preservation organizations.

The University of Vermont Historic Preservation Program offers a master's degree in historic preservation for highly motivated students seeking broad-based professional careers in historic preservation. Its intensive community-oriented approach integrates academic studies and research with professional skills development.

The Preservation Education Institute provides continuing education for building professionals, property owners and adults and children interested in American architectural heritage. Founded in 1983 as a division of Historic Windsor, Inc., a nonprofit historic preservation organization that had been established in 1971, the Preservation Education Institute is now the name by which its corporate parent conducts business. The Institute offers a series of workshops annually, a certificate program in cooperation with the Department of Architecture and Art at Norwich University, and conducts on site training at historic properties throughout the United States.

"Clem Labine's Traditional Building," "Clem Labine's Period Homes," "The Old-House Journal," and Restoration and Renovation Exhibition and Conference are part of Restore Media, LLC, an integrated media company dedicated to the restoration and renovation market.

The growing list of conference cosponsors includes Association for Preservation Technology, International; The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training; and The Preservation Trust of Vermont.

The conference web site URL is www.uvm.edu/coveredbridges; it will be updated regularly. Registration may be made by writing to The Preservation Education Institute at PO Box 1777 Windsor, VT 05089 or via phone and fax, 802-674-6752 and 674-6179 respectively. Major credit cards, purchase orders, and checks are accepted.

Email may be sent to coveredbridges@uvm.edu or to histwininc@valley.net. Historic Windsor, Inc., is a nonprofit 501-c3 organization.

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Calendar Listing or Public Service Announcement for Special Palladio Award "Clem Labine's Traditional Building" has announced a special Palladio Award competition for Covered Bridge restoration projects. Nominations are due by March 21, 2003. Applications are available on-line through the National Covered Bridge Preservation Conference Website, www.uvm.edu/coveredbridges or by contacting Traditional Building on the web at www.traditional-building.com/palladio/palladio.htm, by fax (718) 636-0750, or by phone at (718) 636-0788. For more information about the conference online visit www.uvm.edu/coveredbridges, email coveredbridges@uvm.edu or call The Preservation Education Institute at (802) 674-6752. The Preservation Education Institute is a division of Historic Windsor, Inc., a non-profit 501 C3 educational institution.