December 12, 2011
WASHINGTON, DC - The National Council for Interior Design Qualification, Inc. (NCIDQ) presented the Louis S. Tregre Award to Janice Roberts Young, FASID, FIIDA, a Florida Registered Interior Designer, during the 2011 Annual Council of Delegates Meeting last month in Alexandria, VA. The award recognizes an individual for outstanding service at the grassroots level in support of NCIDQ’s mission toprotect the health, life safety and welfare of the public by establishing standards of competence in the practice of interior design.
The award honors the memory of Louis Tregre, a founding director and first president of NCIDQ. He worked tirelessly, beginning in the late 1960s until his death in 1991, to form an independent, autonomous organization to develop standards and guidelines for determining competency in the practice of interior design.
Young, a former NCIDQ President, has dedicated countless volunteer hours toward legislation for interior designers in the United States with the Interior Design Associations Foundation in Florida to ensure that designers there could have practice rights and retain them when those rights were under attack earlier this year. The Florida legislature rejected HB 5005, a deregulation bill that would have significantly compromised the interiors of public buildings and eliminated the 17-year-old practice act permitting Florida Registered Interior Designers to practice commercial interior design, an area of work that otherwise would only be executed under the practice of architecture and significantly limiting the public’s choice. Young was a leader in the awareness campaign to ensure that the law would not be compromised, a law which has since been validated as constitutional by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In its unanimous selection, the NCIDQ Board noted that Young’s efforts ensure that the interiors of public buildings are not only beautiful, but safe and accessible for everyone, and that those public interiors may be executed by those licensed to practice interior design. “Janice’s tireless efforts on behalf of all designers—and particularly those in the state of Florida—mean that all public buildings in Florida will continue to be designed by trained professionals who adhere to the highest forms of both style and public safety,” said Patty Blaser, NCIDQ President.
Accepting the award, Young alluded to the fact that additional work will be required in 2012 to uphold the interior design law in Florida. “I am extremely grateful for the people who paved the way for interior designers to practice, who had a vision and the muscle to put NCIDQ and all the important components in place for subsequent interior design legislation,” she said. “I do what I do because I am grateful for the opportunity they provided me. I hope I am paving the way for those who will come behind me.”