We are pleased and honoured to announce that our R3 Video Series has been nominated for a Higgins and Langley Award for Excellence in Swiftwater Rescue.  The awards are entering its 20th year and are considered the highest honour in the Swiftwater Rescue community.

The videos have been nominated for a "Special Commendation Award".

Special Commendation Nominations: 

Recognizes the breadth of possible contribution in the field of swiftwater rescue. 

Awards of this type can be for media contribution, product innovations, strategic planning, individual heroism or esprit de corps. 

Results are reflected within the swiftwater community and/or the general public. Multiple awards may be presented in a calendar year.

 Nominees can be anyone who expands the knowledge for other personnel, teams, units, agencies or the community about the importance of swiftwater and flood water safety, training, and preparedness.

"We are very humbled and honoured to be considere for a Higgins and Langley Award.  It is always exciting to be recognized for projects that you are passionate about.  The viral nature of the series, the shares on social media and the comments we have received have been very supportive and heartwarming." (Jim Coffey R3)

The 2013 awards will be held in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on May 31 2013.  Announcements of award recipients will be made the first week of April. 

The Higgins & Langley Memorial and Education Fund promotes water safety, swiftwater and flood rescue training and education, drowning prevention, and peer grief support for families who have lost loved ones to drowning or other accidents in the aquatic environment.

Annual awards are presented during the National Association for Search and Rescue conference.

The Higgins and Langley Memorial Awards in Swiftwater Rescue honor outstanding achievement in the technical rescue discipline of swiftwater and flood rescue. They are not heroism awards, but rather recognize preparedness, teamwork, and a job well done, sometimes under extreme conditions, where training is vital to the success of rescue missions, as well as the safety of rescue personnel.

The awards were established in 1993 by members of the Swiftwater Rescue Committee of the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR) in honor of Earl Higgins, a writer and filmmaker who lost his life in 1980 while rescuing a child who was swept down the flood-swollen Los Angeles River, and Jeffrey Langley, a Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighter-paramedic and swiftwater rescue pioneer, who lost his life in a helicopter incident in 1993.