The Silver Heron Award will be presented annually to two youth, or to one youth and one adult, who have given an exemplary amount of time and effort to Blue Heron Lodge in the year the award is presented. The nominees’ contributions to the lodge should be innovative, and the results of their efforts should leave a positive and long-lasting impact on the lodge. Along with the Silver Heron plaque, Blue Heron Lodge donates $1,000 to Tidewater Council’s endowment fund in the names of the awardees, who then become James E. West Fellows.

The James E. West Fellowship award is available for gifts of $1,000 and up in cash or marketable securities to a council endowment fund. The gift must be in addition to — and not replace or diminish — the donor’s annual Friends of Scouting support. Many individuals and corporations make these gifts either on behalf of someone else — such as in honor of an Eagle Scout, Silver Beaver recipient, a retirement, a special accomplishment, or anniversary — or in memory of a special individual. If an institution is truly “the lengthened shadow of one man,” it is more than fitting that the BSA honor James E. West’s significant contributions to scouting in such a significant way.

Blue Heron Lodge annually donates a gift in the name of one recipient and presents him or her with the James E. West award. (In 2003, two awards were presented. The Silver Heron Award was created in 2011. Prior to 2011, recipients noted below received only the James E. West Fellowship. In 2011 and subsequent years, recipients were presented with both the Silver Heron and West awards.)