AWI Awards
External Awards:
Over the years, Alberta Women’s Institutes (AWI) has created many scholarships at local schools across the province. Some have been offered on an occasional basis; others have persisted over several years. There is no coherent record of the history of these scholarships, although the rural histories and AWI histories make frequent mention of them.
On a provincial level, the AWI is perhaps best known for its awards to women at Alberta’s agricultural colleges at Olds, Lakeland, and Fairview (then NAIT).
Internal Awards
Alberta Women’s Institutes (AWI) also has several awards for its own membership. Two of these awards are for exceptional work in handicraft: in particular, quilting, and doily-making.
Two other awards, the Cornelia Wood Scholarship and the Sophie Miles Award, focus on self-development, either through education or through attending the yearly provincial conference.
The Mrs. Alfred Watt Memorial is unique in that it provides funding for AWI to participate in work internationally.
Erland Lee Award of Appreciation
The WIs across the country offer awards to men who have been particularly helpful to the Women's Institutes. This award is given in memory of the man who first suggested that a woman's organization be formed in parallel to the Farmers' Institutes, in Southern Ontario.