Submit a nomination for the 2025 awards before June 1st!
The Board will present the awards at the annual PDAI conference in June. Please submit your nomination by Saturday, June 1st.
Because PDAI Board members may not be familiar with all nominees, nominations should provide enough information to help the Board assess the quality of the nominees’ contributions to their office, their clients, and their profession.
The Virginia Larson Memorial Award: This award is given to the public defender of the year. It was created in 1998 after the tragic death of Assistant Public Defender Virginia Larson. Virginia was a staff attorney in the Story County Public Defender’s Office when she was killed in a car accident in 1997. Her dedication and tireless efforts on behalf of her clients are remembered each year with the announcement of the recipient of the award named in her honor.
The William Hargrave Memorial Award: This award acknowledges the investigator of the year. It was created in 2002 to honor William Hargrave, who was an investigator in the Waterloo Adult Office before becoming the Chief Investigator in the Des Moines Central Office. William was instrumental in ensuring investigators received continuing education and training; he also successfully advocated for an investigator position on the PDAI board. William passed away from natural causes in 1993.
The Melanie Thwing-Eastman Award: This award recognizes an outstanding defense attorney who has been in practice less than five years. The award was created in 2020 to honor Melanie Thwing-Eastman. Melanie graduated from Drake Law School in 2015. While there, she served as the Student-Bar Association president from 2014–2015 and was the distinguished recipient of the Iowa State Bar Association in 2015. Following law school, Melanie became an attorney for the Iowa State Public Defenders Office. She began her career at the Black Hawk County Office before moving to the Scott County
