Looks like the NACIS has a new award that recognizes “imaginative cartography” aptly named the Corlis Benefideo Award for Imaginative Cartography.
Cartography is often seen by the public as work opposed to imagination, grounded entirely in established fact. While this devotion to reflecting what is forms the heart of cartographic thinking, cartographers and artists who use maps as a basis for their work can (and do) take that grounding in fact and use it to venture into the world of the possible. Some explore real places from perspectives that allow us to see it fresh and full of possibility, and some take our established traditions of mapmaking, and indeed take fully-constructed maps themselves, and turn them on their heads to make us see ourselves anew. This award is to recognize this work and the perspective it brings to the field of cartography, and the contributions it makes to the world as a whole.
Sounds quite interesting, doesn’t it? All nominations should be submitted by email to cb@nacis.org. The deadline for nominations is March 15, 2013. More details on what needs to be submitted is on the webpage. I wasn’t aware of who Corlis Benefideo was but this old blog post should fill you in.