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by Scott Keyes
About the Historic American Landscapes Survey
The Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) is a national program administered by the National Park Service in collaboration with the American Society of Landscape Architects and Library of Congress. HALS documents historic landscapes through the creation of measured drawings, large-format photographs, and historical reports. Documentation is archived in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress.
The 15th Annual HALS Challenge Competition
The annual HALS Challenge competition encourages landscape architects, students, and other interested parties to document historic landscapes in their communities. To enter the competition, participants must complete a historical report that highlights the history, significance, and character-defining features of the surveyed landscape. This report can be supplemented with measured drawings or large-format photographs. All competition entries are archived in the HALS collection at the Library of Congress where they contribute to the nation’s largest repository of documentation on American architecture, engineering, and landscapes.
The 15th annual HALS Challenge competition is an open competition. We invite landscape architects, historians, students, and other interested parties to document any landscape that you feel would make a good addition to the HALS collection. Historic landscapes encompass a vast array of diverse property types and places, from formal gardens, parks, and public spaces to traditional cultural places, vernacular communities, and residential districts. Regardless of the site selected, please focus your HALS report on the landscape as a whole. Information how to describe and analyze historic landscapes for the HALS collection can be found in the HALS History Guidelines.
Please contact your state ASLA Chapter’s volunteer HALS Liaison when you have selected a site to document for the HALS Challenge to be sure no one else is already preparing a HALS historic report for it. (If your chapter’s volunteer HALS Liaison position is vacant, please consider volunteering yourself or suggesting it to a colleague who may be interested.)
How to Enter
Complete submissions to the competition should include the following elements:
- HALS Short Format Historical Report: Use the HALS Short Format Report Template to describe the history, significance, and character-defining features of the documented landscape.
- Copyright Release Form: All entries should include a signed Copyright Release Form acknowledging that all materials in the submission will be dedicated to the public domain. Since the copyright status of some materials is uncertain, please do not reproduce any graphics in your HALS documentation unless they are covered by a signed copyright release or clearly in the public domain.
- Supplemental Measured Drawings or Photographs: While not required, HALS Challenge historical reports can be supplemented with measured drawings or large-format photographs of the documented landscape. Drawings must comply with the requirements of the HALS Guidelines for Drawings; large-format photographs must comply with the HABS/HAER/HALS Photography Guidelines. Entries that include drawings or photographs receive extra points during judging.
Once complete, email your entry to:
Scott Keyes
Email: [email protected] Phone: 202-354-2186
Entries must be submitted by July 31, 2024, to be included in the competition.
Prizes
Cash prizes will be awarded to the top 3 entries. Employees of the National Park Service, American Society of Landscape Architects, and the Library of Congress may submit HALS Short Format Historical Reports but are ineligible for prizes.
Resources and Assistance
To download report templates, review guidelines, and access other resources, please visit the competition website. For additional information about HALS documentation and the HALS Challenge, you may also email Scott Keyes, acting HALS program manager, or contact your ASLA Chapter’s volunteer HALS Liaison.
We look forward to receiving your entries!
Scott Keyes is the Chief of the Heritage Documentation Programs and acting Chief of the Historic American Landscapes Survey at the National Park Service.