Grounds Wins a 2024 PGMS Greenstar Grand Award

At its 2024 Annual Conference, the Professional Grounds Management Society^® (PGMS^®)  announced the University of Arizona Central Mall as the Grand Award recipient in  the Small Site category in its 2024 Green Star Awards^® competition.  Sandra Obenour-Dowd and Mike Sestiaga accepted the award on behalf of the FM Grounds Shop.

PGMS® is “an individual membership society of grounds professionals, representing over 1,000 industry professionals in the United States, with members in Canada and overseas.” It is “the oldest individual membership organization for grounds professionals and advances the grounds management professional through education and professional development.”

Green Star Awards® nationally recognize excellence in grounds maintenance, with Grand, Honor, and Merit Awards in 16 categories, covering all types of private, public, commercial and industrial landscapes. 

The program honors grounds managers for maintaining a well-manicured landscape through all seasons.  The landscape submitted must be at least two years old and under the manager’s continuous maintenance for at least two years.  One of the program’s goals is “To challenge those responsible for maintenance of grounds throughout the country to achieve a higher level of excellence.”  

The UA Central Mall won a Grand Award in the Small Site category – a commercial or primary worksite landscape with an annual budget of less than $100,000. 

Judges evaluated the turf management, landscape maintenance, challenges, and budget, assigning up to 20 points for turf, 20 points for landscape, 15 points for safety, 15 points for challenges addressed, 10 points for budget, and 20 points for sustainable practices (up to 100 points total).  The Grand Award in each category is awarded to the submission with the highest score equal to, or above 85.  Our submission scored 86.33 points.