On Monday, May 12, 2025, the St. Augustine City Commission will present the second of two 2025 Adelaide Sanchez Awards to Cyndi Stevenson, former Florida State Representative, recognizing her years of service and commitment to the protection of historic and cultural resources in St. Augustine during a special gathering at 4:30pm, just prior to the regularly scheduled City Commission meeting.

In addition to former Representative Stevenson, Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline also nominated the Sisters of St. Joseph, and the City Commission unanimously supported both.  The award nomination is made by a member of the City Commission and approved; then presented in May to coincide with Historic Preservation Month.

The presentation, which is open to the public, will be held in The Alcazar Room of City Hall, located at 75 King St., and may be viewed via live-stream online at www.CityStAugTV.com, where it will be available for on-demand viewing the following day.

Preserving St. Augustine’s Historic and Cultural Resources

Stevenson has been a steadfast friend and champion of St. Augustine and St. Johns County historic and cultural resources in word and deed.  As our state representative, she championed funding for the Division of Historic Resources grant programs, water utility expansion, resiliency, and historic resources renovation year in and year out.  When bad legislation was proposed that threatened the city’s ability to protect its cultural and historic resources, Stevenson stepped up and assisted in defeating those measures.

Before being elected to the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners in 2004, Stevenson was already an advocate for saving our local cultural resources.  One of Stevenson’s notable accomplishments was advocating for dedicated funds from the sale of the Northern SJC Utility area to JEA to be used for the purchase of land at Fort Mose, which was part of the St. Johns County Land Acquisition Management Program (LAMP) in 2003.

Among the many initiatives championed by Stevenson once elected to the state legislature, she led the fight to defeat a 2016 bill that would have allowed individuals to dig for historic resources on public property.  As a freshman representative, this was a major victory and provided an opportunity to educate others about the irreparable damage and negative impacts of such a bill.

Adelaide Sanchez Award

The Adelaide Sanchez Award’s namesake was a native of St. Augustine and worked at the St. Augustine Record from 1930 through 1943 where she was a reporter, features writer, society editor and the Associated Press correspondent.  She joined the staff of The Miami Herald where she worked for 30 years serving as Assistant Woman’s Editor covering numerous society events during that city’s very formative three decades.  After her retirement in 1973, she returned to St. Augustine and continued writing until her death in 1994 through newsletters for the Flagler Hospital Auxiliary and Trinity Episcopal Church and biographical sketches that were included in the program for Cross and Sword.

It is Adelaide Sanchez’s appreciation and love of the City’s historic properties, and her active promotion to ensure the preservation of those resources that garnered this award being named in her honor. Her support of historic resources is a classic example of one who “walked the walk.”

In accordance with her wishes, her home on Marine St. was bequeathed to the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board. After the board’s abolishment, the property was transferred to the City of St. Augustine and sold with the proceeds being held in trust, as per her wishes, with the interest earned being designated for awards, programs, and stipends with the goal of advancing the interests of historic restoration, preservation, education, and interpretation.

Recipients of the Adelaide Sanchez Award for Historic Preservation, Restoration, Education, and Interpretation receive a statuette of the lions that grace the western side of the Bridge of Lions. The molds for the replicas were crafted by St. Augustine sculptor Enzo Torcoletti.

For more information about the Adelaide Sanchez Award and a complete list of recipients, visit the City’s website: www.CityStAug.com/Awards.

For media inquiries, contact Melissa Wissel, Communications Director, at 904.293.3307.