ASHRAE REGION VIII

The Golden Gavel is awarded to the chapter of the year. This award is judged by a select committee of region members. Guidelines for the Golden Gavel award are revised each year by the DRC and incoming region leadership. These guidelines are available to the Chapter Presidents via the Region VIII CRC Basecamp. 

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During the ASHRAE winter meeting in Columbus, OH in 1968, William J. Collins, Jr. of the Central Oklahoma Chapter had several lengthy discussions with George Meffert of Dallas and Jack Thompson, also out of Dallas, concerning ways of stimulating chapter activities in Region VIII.  From these discussions evolved the Golden Gavel Award.  Collins and Thompson formulated the award criteria.  They determined that the award would consist of a golden gavel lapel pin for the chapter president, an emblematic patch for the chapter’s award banner, and an actual golden gavel for the chapter to keep during the coming society year.  For the president’s lapel pin, as designed by Mr. Collins, the president’s diamond past-president pin would be sent to a jeweler to affix a miniature gavel of gold to the bottom of the pin.  The Golden Gavel Past President lapel pin would then be given to the winning president.  The hand-held golden gavel was purchased by Mr. Collins, on which he had inscribed “ASHRAE REGION VIII GOLDEN GAVEL”.  This gavel would be passed from chapter to chapter each year to the new winner.

At the Region VIII CRC in Houston, TX in April 1970, Society President-Elect Frank Bridgers from Albuquerque, NM was so impressed by the effects of the new golden gavel competition among the Region VIII chapters that he conceived the idea of the PAOE.  In January, 1971, at the winter society meeting, President Bridgers announced his award of excellence for the coming society year.

Today, the PAOE is still put forth by the Society President each year defining the official goals for accomplishment, and winning the Golden Gavel competition is still the ultimate achievement of a chapter.