The Elsie MacGill Northern Lights (EMNL) award is accepting nominations for its fourth annual awards. Named after Elsie MacGill, the first Canadian female aircraft designer, the award’s mission is to recognize excellence and to inspire women to enter the aviation and aerospace industries in Canada. The EMNL awards honor outstanding women in aviation and aerospace who have demonstrated determination, perseverance, leadership and courage throughout their careers.
MacGill graduated from the University of Toronto’s engineering program in 1927, becoming the first Canadian woman to earn a degree in electrical engineering, and eventually became the first woman in North America with an advanced degree in aeronautics. Dubbed the “Queen of the Hurricanes,” she was pivotal in the design and production of the Hawker Hurricane in Canada during World War II.
2012 marks an important milestone for the award as it has expanded and will now honor women in four separate categories: Flight Operations/Maintenance, Business, Government, and Rising Star. Honorees will be presented with their awards at the gala ceremony and dinner in September 2012. The nomination deadline is March 31, 2012.
Past winners include Heather Sifton, former president and CEO of the Buttonville Municipal Airport; Kathy Fox, retired VP Operations for Nav Canada and currently an appointed member of the Transportation Safety Board; and Roberta Taylor, an aviation trailblazer and social activist who now teaches at the University of Victoria.
For more information: NorthernLightsAward.ca
