Ron MacDonald Outstanding Service Award

The award recognizes an individual within a CRKN member institution who has demonstrated vision, dedication, and outstanding service in building bridges and collaboration to advance access to knowledge in Canada. The award consists of recognition through an engraved trophy and citation, presented at CRKN’s annual Member Summit.

Award Selection Criteria

Demonstrated vision, integrity, and inclusive values;
Fosters collaboration and building connections within the CRKN membership and/or between CRKN and like-minded organizations;
Significantly contributes to collective efforts to create new pathways to knowledge;
Demonstrates outstanding service in at least one of the following areas: licensing, open access, Canadian digital heritage content and infrastructure, or persistent identifiers.

CRKN particularly encourages nominations of outstanding candidates who are women, First Nations, Inuit, Métis, members of Black, and racialized communities, 2SLGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and members of other diverse and underrepresented groups.

Previous Recipients

2025 Eugene Barsky

2017 Brian Owen

2024 Camille Callison

2016 Leslie Weir

2023 Dana McFarland

2015 Michael Ridley

2022 Larry Alford

2014 Carole Moore

2021 Jonathan Bengtson

2013 Jocelyn Godolphin

2020 Tony Horava

2012 Ronald Bond

2019 Christopher Callbeck

2011 Jean-Pierre Côté

2018 Benoit Séguin

2010 Jonathan Blay

The Ron MacDonald Outstanding Service Award was created by CRKN in September 2008 to honour the late Ron MacDonald. Ron served on the Negotiations Resource Team from the inception of the Canadian National Site Licensing Project in 2000 through to July 2007, and was a key contributor in the development of CRKN’s collaborative programs and services.