The Krista Sepp Memorial Award was established in 1991 in memory of Krista Sepp, who lost her life on February 3, 1989 while performing her duties as a child and youth counsellor. As a young child and youth counsellor, Krista was determined to make a difference in a high risk and often undervalued industry. In her work, Krista consistently demonstrated empathy, enthusiasm, idealism, a thirst for knowledge, and a keenness to apply theory to practice.

Throughout Ontario, child and youth counselors and workers play a vital role in the delivery of many programs that help young people and their families deal with complex problems. This Award was established to honour the qualities Krista brought to the field, to recognize the important contribution of child and youth counselors and workers and to raise awareness of children's mental health issues. The Award is presented to a child and youth counselor and worker who demonstrates exemplary contribution to the field of practice and who emulates the professional Krista would have become.

The Krista Sepp Award provides a forum for annual recognition of the high quality work and dedication of front-line child and youth counselors and workers across the province and continues to promote awareness of children’s mental health issues and a commitment to service excellence.

Prior to 2004 one award was presented annually. In 2004, Krista would have been working in the field of child and youth work for well over a decade and it was determined that to pay tribute to her memory in this regard, two awards would be presented annually.

The Horizon Award Recognizes the work of direct service staff with no more than five years of experience working in the CYW/CYC field.

The Mentoring Award Honours the ongoing contributions of direct services staff with more than five years of experience in the CYW/CYC field.