EACH YEAR, SAVE OUR HERITAGE ORGANISATION honors the people, groups, and communities whose commitment to preserving San Diego’s historic places has burnished the meaning, depth, and beauty of this region we call home. The People In Preservation Awards are our way of celebrating the exceptional work that makes preservation a vital part of our culture and civic life.

Legacy Award

We present Legacy Awards to the heroes whose lasting contributions to historic preservation go beyond a single project, campaign, or moment in time, often spanning decades. Their names may not always be in headlines, but their fingerprints are everywhere on saved buildings, protected neighborhoods, and empowered communities, as well as in the actions of others they have inspired and mentored.

Their efforts have often resulted in permanent protections, landmark restorations, groundbreaking advocacy, and awareness-building, all of which have helped the public understand and appreciate why preservation matters.

Legacy Award recipients have shaped not only our built environment but also the very spirit of preservation in our region. These leaders understand that preservation is about people, identity, and belonging.

With immense gratitude, SOHO presents Legacy Awards to those whose knowledge, strategies, and perseverance coalesce into a vigorous call to action. They show us what is possible when passion for place and shared stories meet strength of purpose. And they remind us that while buildings may be made of wood and stone, it is people who hold it all together.

Culture Keeper Award

This award celebrates individuals and organizations who preserve and promote the cultural lifeblood of our region. Whether through community memory, oral traditions, or place-based storytelling, culture keepers ensure that the intangible heritage of San Diego, its customs, lifeways, and collective identity is not lost to time.

They work across disciplines and platforms: writing books, articles and blogs, leading walking tours, curating archives, preparing historic designations, or advocating for sacred landscapes. Their efforts illuminate the everyday and the extraordinary alike, from tiki bars and restaurants to family homesteads, sacred tribal lands, long-gone neighborhoods, and the individuals and communities of the past.

In sharing these stories and spaces, culture keepers strengthen community ties, uplift marginalized voices, and deepen public understanding of the layered narratives that define us. Their work helps people recognize their place in a broader story about belonging.

Adaptive Reuse Award

Few preservation strategies are more powerful or more hopeful than adaptive reuse.

This PIP award category honors projects that breathe new vitality into historic buildings while retaining their architectural integrity, character, and cultural meaning—the stories, values, and associations that give the place significance to its community. Adaptive reuse is both a design solution and a profound act of stewardship. It recognizes that our historic buildings are not relics of a bygone era, but resilient, flexible, and worthy of continued use and reclaimed relevance.

At its best, adaptive reuse answers the call of both past and present. It preserves irreplaceable architecture, materials, and craftsmanship while meeting modern needs in sustainable, creative ways. These intriguing projects require a respect for the site, a sensitivity to what can be altered and what must remain, and often a tenacious belief that preservation is not an obstacle to progress, but a laudable foundation.

These award-winning projects declare that old buildings, when treated with common sense, imagination, and care, can serve our communities in new and vital ways—for housing, the arts, education, civic life, small businesses, gathering spaces, and more. They demonstrate that historic preservation is about continuity, adaptability, and honoring the cultural legacy embedded in our built environment.

In a time when demolition is too often the default position, and when short-term convenience steals from long-term vision, the winners in this category stand out as inspiring counterpoints. They represent the best of what can happen when we choose to build upon the past, not erase it.

Civic Restoration Award

Preservation of our civic heritage is one of the highest forms of public service. The Civic Restoration Award recognizes outstanding efforts to restore historically significant public buildings, parks, and cultural landmarks—projects typically led by government agencies, often in collaboration with nonprofit organizations and community stakeholders.

These projects are rarely simple. They require patience, vision, deep respect for history, and often, the coordination of many hands and hearts. The results, however, are priceless: historic spaces that remain open, vibrant, and beautiful for all to enjoy. From beloved gardens to landmark buildings, these restorations enrich our public realm and reflect a shared commitment to honoring the past while investing in the future.

Keeper of the Flame Award

The Keeper of the Flame Award honors individuals and groups who tend the bright sparks of our shared history—preserving memory, place, and tradition in ways both tangible and intangible. These honorees provide ongoing care of historic sites that invoke pride and emotional connections, the celebration of community legacy, and the cultivation of public awareness about local cultural heritage.

They are the caretakers of archives and oral histories; the stewards of historic buildings and family homes, grand or modest; and the initiators of walking tours, trailblazing books, and public events. Whether preserving a rare collection, advocating for unknown or forgotten histories, or maintaining a long-time business establishment as a community resource, these keepers exemplify how heritage lives in the people who keep its meaning burning strong now and for future generations.

Commercial Restoration and Renovation Award

Historic commercial buildings are often the most visible and familiar places in our communities, whether storefronts, offices, hotels, theaters, or public gathering places, they anchor daily life. Their restoration represents a major commitment not only to craftsmanship and design integrity, but to economic reinvestment and cultural continuity.

This award honors exemplary commercial restoration projects that go beyond surface-level improvements. These projects are complex undertakings, often multimillion-dollar efforts that demand a respect for historic fabric, collaboration among skilled professionals, and a clear understanding of the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.

Whether returning a landmark hotel to its former grandeur, reviving a neglected downtown storefront, or transforming a museum site, each restoration demonstrates that preserving commercial heritage is essential to a vibrant, livable San Diego.

Town Crier Award

Every movement needs its storytellers. Those who not only record the events and milestones, but who also help shape how we understand them and who bring meaning, urgency, and context to the issues that matter. In historic preservation, the written word has long played a vital role in protecting our past and informing our future.

This award honors those individuals who use the power of the pen, whether through journalism that educates the public and gives voice to preservation concerns, books that illuminate our architectural heritage, academic writing, or essays to shine a light on historic places and the efforts to save them.

Their work may take the form of deeply researched books on architecture and community history, newspaper columns chronicling the fate of endangered sites or the success of preservation projects, or thoughtful essays that spark public dialogue around preservation policy. What unites them is their ability to inform and engage with audiences with clarity, knowledge, and integrity.

This award recognizes the town criers among us for their passion, their persistence, and their profound impact. Through education and outreach, their voices echo far beyond the page, demonstrating that awareness is the first step toward saving what matters.