Conflict of Interest Policy for the Awards of Excellence Jury
Approved by the CSLA Board of Directors (November 2025)
1.0 Definition of "Conflict of Interest"
Conflict of Interest situations occur when
a) a person has an obligation to exercise judgement or discretion in a disinterested manner, that is, impartially, but
b) at the same time has a vested interest (financial or personal/career) that could potentially bias their or her judgement.
People often fail to recognize when their personal interest has biased their judgement. That is, conflict of interest operates at a sub-conscious as well as a conscious level.
Because conflict of interest is a risk factor for bias, professionals, including landscape architects, have an obligation to avoid even the appearance of bias by declaring their conflicts and recusing themselves.
2.0 Recommended Policy and Procedure
Policy
A member of the CSLA Awards of Excellence Jury is to exercise their judgement impartially throughout the selection process of award submissions. Selection of projects must be based entirely on a review of the professionally relevant information provided to the panel of jurors, none of whom stands to benefit financially or personally from the decision. In other words, no juror shall receive direct or indirect profit from their or her position.
Conflict of interest exists if a juror has any of the following relationships with a submitted project/team lead of submitted project:
● an employer,
● an employee,
● a partner,
● a family member or
● a close, personal friend, or
● any another relationship in which the juror is unable to or believes their relationship to the project places them in a potential or perceived conflict of interest.
Jury members are also considered to be in a "conflict of interest" whenever members of their family, business partners or close personal associates may personally benefit either directly or indirectly, financially or otherwise, from their position as a juror. Personal or fiduciary relationships with any of the award submissions should be identified to the Jury Chair and the Executive Director and the Jury member should opt to recuse from consideration of that award submission, unless advised otherwise by the Jury Chair.
Note that according to the guidelines for the Awards of Excellence, no jurors are allowed to participate in the jury if their firm has made a submission to the awards program.
Note that if a juror has moved firms, the juror should also recuse themselves from the jury entirely if they were involved in the project while employed by the former employer, or if they were a partner in the former firm. Jurors should also recuse themselves if they were a sub-contractor to the project.
Procedure
- Jury members must be provided with the Conflict of Interest Policy before the jury meeting.
- If the juror is not certain they are in a conflict-of-interest position, the matter may be brought before the Executive Director, Jury Chair or CSLA Board of Directors for a decision.
- Conflicts must be declared to the Executive Director and the Jury Chair at least 24 hours ahead of the jury meeting.
- If a juror finds themselves in a position of conflict of interest, the juror must recuse themselves from either discussing or voting on the submission and shall not attempt to personally influence the outcome.
- The Executive Director must record the declaration of the conflict of interest