Awards of Recognition

Participant recognition is optional although encouraged by CARES. Following please find suggested means of recognition to use if you would like. CARES Certificate of Recognition and CARES Member of the Year certificate templates are available to CARES Member Club Chairs at Downloads.

You may wish to be creative and design your own!  We would love to hear of ideas that you have within your own club and look forward to sharing those ideas with other CARES Member Clubs here on the CARES website!

Certificate of Recognition

A CARES Certificate of Recognition can be awarded annually for each species registered and accepted into CARES within that year. If the number of registered species for one CARES club exceeds an amount reasonable to send out physical certificates that CARES club or organization may choose to use an electronic means of CARES certificates and/or recognition.

The CARES Certificate of Recognition template can be obtained under Downloads.

Certificate Seals

Four colored seals‒gold, green, blue, and red‒can be presented annually and added to the CARES Certificate of Recognition for further recognition of ultimate achievements.

Certificate seals are obtained through our CARES for Individuals Coordinator.

• A gold seal can be awarded for the achievement of setting aside space in your tanks that is dedicated to maintaining a CARES conservation priority species and registering that species in CARES. The gold seal is automatically awarded with registration of a species at the time of presentation of the CARES Certificate of Recognition.

• A green seal can be awarded for sharing the experiences and knowledge that you have gained regarding your CARES conservation priority species through the submission of an article to the editor of your society’s journal or the webmaster, and the subsequent publication of that article.

• A blue seal can be awarded for sharing fry of your registered CARES species with a fellow member of your society, when those fry are registered into CARES by the new owner, or for donating fry of your registered CARES species to a species maintenance program (SMP).

• A red seal can be awarded for sharing fry of your registered CARES species with a hobbyist from another society or educational organization who has implemented the CARES Program, when those fry are registered into that organization’s CARES Program.

Longevity Seals
For each succeeding year that you continue to maintain a species enrolled in CARES, a red longevity seal can be added to your CARES Certificate of Recognition.

Longevity seals are obtained through our CARES for Individuals Coordinator.

Ultimate Level of CARES Achievement

A certificate with four colored seals‒gold, green, blue, and red‒and a solid row of red longevity seals is the ultimate level of CARES Membership Achievement per CARES species.

A hearty congratulations to all who achieve this level of species maintenance and disbursement!

Breeders Award Program

All eligible fry of registered CARES species can be awarded 20 (or more) additional points in the society’s Breeders Award Program.

CARES Member of the Year Award

The CARES Member of the Year Award can be presented annually. This achievement is awarded to a member of CARES who excels in outstanding overall contributions to ensure a positive future for conservation priority fishes, openly shares knowledge with others, and altruistically assists fellow hobbyists in their CARES endeavors.

The CARES Member of the Year certificate template can be obtained under Downloads.

An engraved plaque or other type of engraved award can also be presented in addition to the certificate.

A Heartfelt Thank You to All!

A huge and heartfelt thank you to all who participate in CARES!  You are all winners as are the conservation priority fish that you are maintaining and dispersing throughout the hobby.