HIGICC recognizes outstanding community members and students through two programs: The President's Award and the Mark Lierman Memorial Scholarship Award.

President's Award

The President's Award is bestowed on a deserving individual who has made a meaningful impact on Hawaii's geospatial community. This award is selected by the Board's President and announced at the HIGICC annual meeting.

• 2010 Craig Clouet
  
• 2009 Ken Schmidt
  
• 2008 Chris Chiesa
• 2007 Darcee Killpack
• 2006 Rhett Rebold
• 2005 Royce Jones
• 2004 Joan Delos Santos
• 2003 Susan Bevacqua & Ron Salz
• 2002 Nami Ohtomo

Mark Lierman* Memorial Scholarship

The Mark Lierman Memorial Scholarship Award is a $1,000 scholarship that recognizes a deserving student who has demonstrated an appreciation for and understanding of geospatial data and  geographic information systems (GIS), and who is enrolled as a full-time student at a post secondary accredited educational institution.

Applications for academic year 2010 are now closed. The Scholarship Working Group (WG) after careful consideration presented the scholarship award to Christopher Hamilton, currently enrolled as a PhD candidate at UH Manoa. This year's criteria and application can be viewed here, but note that the Scholarship WG is reviewing and may revise the EligibilityCriteria:

• Scholarship Eligibility Criteria
  
• Scholarship Application
  

• 2010: Christopher Hamilton
  
• 2009: Mele Chillingworth and Jessica Nalani Leonard
  
• 2008: No award
  
• 2007: Lisa Wedding - GIS and remote sensing applications for coral reef management
• 2006: Garrett George and Kealoha Kinney

Mark Lierman was born in Twin Falls, Idaho.  He worked in GIS for over 25 years, and came to the City and County of Honolulu in 1992. As a GIS Analyst with over 17 years of service and a key senior member of the City’s Department of Planning and Permitting, Honolulu Land Information System (HoLIS) program, he was a major contributor to the development of Honolulu's GIS program.  He was also an instrumental leader in the development, deployment and management of the City’s building, land use, and construction permitting system known as POSSE.

Mark was a tireless advocate for and an enthusiastic promoter of GIS technology to many citizens, professionals, civil servants, and politicians throughout the State of Hawaii. He was a cheerful participant in local GIS user groups, including HIGICC, and was a fixture at GIS Day events at McCoy Pavilion. Known for his playful roles (as a butler, as a globe, etc.), he used humor and self-deprecation to put a human face to GIS and reduce the intimidation factor of the technology to make it more accessible to the kids and volunteers alike.