Northwest Indiana's Marquette Plan for lakeshore development has won a prestigious national award from a Washington, D.C., advocacy group.

The Waterfront Center gave the Marquette Plan one of its two "honor awards" for planning at its 22nd annual convention at Chicago's Drake Hotel Friday.

The Marquette project was conceived in the 1980s by U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., as a way of recapturing Northwest Indiana's lakefront for public use. It now goes by the full name of The Marquette Plan: Indiana's Vision for Lakeshore Reinvestment.

The lakefront plan, covering an area stretching from the Chicago city line to Michigan, only began moving forward with actual projects with the creation of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority. The RDA is currently funding a half dozen Marquette projects along with local cities.

Accepting the award on behalf of a dozen project sponsors was Portage Mayor Olga Velazquez.

"The Marquette Plan represents a bold, shared vision for how we can transform our Lake Michigan shoreline into a livable, sustainable asset for current and future generations," Velazquez said.

The recently opened Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk site of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is the first Marquette project to be completed.

Every year, the Waterfront Center bestows awards on projects around the world to encourage communities and developers to create high-quality waterfront projects.

Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission Executive Director John Swanson praised the hundreds of citizens who came to planning sessions to generate ideas for projects.