OWAA News

Six OWAA contest winners judged ‘best of the best’

October 30, 2013 By Tom Sadler

The OWAA President’s Choice Award honors the best of the best work from each type of media recognized in the association’s 2013 Excellence in Craft contests. Past President Mark Taylor judged first-place winners from the 2013 EIC contests. This year’s President’s Choice Award winners are:

Magazine/E-zine: Tom Watson of Appleton, Minn., for “In the Wake of Ancient Fishermen,” published in the February 2012 issue of Fish Alaska Magazine. Watson won first place in the Fishing Category of the Magazine/E-zine Contest.

Newspaper/Website: Tom Stienstra of McCloud, Calif., for “Paralyzed athlete Grant Korgan achieves polar goal,” published in the Jan. 26, 2012, edition of the San Francisco Chronicle. Stienstra won first place in the Outdoor Fun and Adventure Category of the Newspaper/Website Contest.

Blog: Hal Herring of Augusta, Mont., for “Special Report: How I’m Helping to Save the Whitebark Pine, One Seed at a Time,” posted Oct. 18, 2012, on FieldandStream.com. Herring won first place in the Conservation Category of the Blog Contest.

Radio/Podcast: Dan Small of Belgium, Wis., for “Calling All Game with Wayne Carlton,” broadcast Feb. 11, 2012, on Outdoors Radio Network. Small won first place in the Gear/Technical Category of the Radio/Podcast Contest.

Television/Video/Webcast: Bill Sherck of Minneapolis, Minn., for “One Cold Step at a Time,” broadcast Feb. 5, 2012, on Minnesota Bound (NBC-KARE 11). Sherck won first place in the Outdoor Fun and Adventure Category of the Television/Video/Webcast Contest.

Photo: Noppadol Paothong of Columbia, Mo., for “Spring Battle.” Paothong won first place in the Action Category of the Photography Contest.

With much appreciation, OWAA’s board of directors, members and staff thank the 2013 Excellence in Craft sponsors: The Pew Charitable Trusts, Realtree, Crosman Corp., and Outdoor Recreation Company of America.

All 2013 Excellence in Craft award recipients are listed online at http://owaa.org/blog/2013/06/owaa-announces-winners-of-2013-excellence-in-craft-contests/.

Interested in joining the Outdoor Writers Association of America?

Find out more at Join OWAA.

Kelsey Dayton new Outdoors Unlimited editor

October 28, 2013 By Tom Sadler

FROM OWAA NEWS:

MISSOULA, Mont. — The Outdoor Writers Association of America announces the hiring of Kelsey Dayton as editor of Outdoors Unlimited, the association’s flagship magazine.

Originally from Missoula, Mont., Dayton earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, where she focused on outdoor and environmental issue reporting.

After graduating she missed the mountains and wanted to return to the West and took a newspaper job in Wyoming at the Gillette News Record. Dayton then worked for the Jackson Hole News&Guide, moving on to cover the environmental beat for the Casper Star-Tribune before she began freelancing full time. She’s won numerous state and national writing awards. As a freelancer she covers recreation and environmental policy and research. She’ll continue freelancing while producing Outdoors Unlimited.

“Kelsey will be a welcome addition to the communications team here at OWAA,” said Executive Director Tom Sadler. “She knows OWAA and now has a chance to put her talents to work on Outdoors Unlimited.”

When she’s not seeking and pitching stories that will get her outside, Dayton loves to ski, hike, bike and camp. She writes a weekly outdoor focused blog called Peaks to Plains for Wyofile.com.

“I am always looking for a way to blend work with my love of the outdoors. I’m looking forward to working with talented communicators that share my passion for all things outside,” Dayton said.

2013 honorary award recipients announced

October 25, 2013 By Tom Sadler

FROM OWAA NEWS:

Four earn special recognition Sept. 16 during the concluding banquet at OWAA’s 86th Annual Conference

MISSOULA, Mont. — At its recent annual conference in Lake Placid, N.Y., the Outdoor Writers Association of America, The Voice of the Outdoors, honored four with its most distinguished awards.

2013 Ham Brown Awawrd — Award recipient Phil Bloom with presenter Rich Patterson and 2012-13 Board President Mark Taylor.

Phil Bloom, of Fort Wayne, Ind., received the 2013 J. Hammond Brown Award. The award is OWAA’s most prestigious recognition of a member “for devoted past service to the organization over a period of continuous years.”

In presenting the award to Bloom, past recipient Rich Patterson said: “Some board work is visible, especially at conferences, but many tasks must be completed at home. Sometimes they are difficult. On a couple of occasions Phil stepped in to prevent what could have become significant organizational problems.

“Back in 2006 my wife and I had packed our car and were ready to head for Bismarck, N.D., where I’d end my year as president. It had been a snowy winter followed by a rainy spring … The Corps of Engineers told the residents of Cedar Rapids not to worry. Then seven inches of torrential rain fell in a couple of hours. The river surged 13 feet higher than ever recorded … We still thought we could make the OWAA conference. Then one bridge went out. Then another and another. Finally only one bridge remained and the National Guard only let emergency vehicles cross the river. We couldn’t leave town. We weren’t going to the OWAA conference. I called Phil and told him I was in a bind. ‘No problem, Rich. I’ll handle it. Do what you can to help flood victims.’ So, with almost no notice Phil did my jobs, and then a year later in his year as president he did it all again.”

Glenn Sapir, of Putnam Valley, N.Y., received OWAA’s 2013 Excellence in Craft Award. The award honors an OWAA member “for outstanding effort in upholding the OWAA Creed and continued excellence in craft.”

An OWAA member since 1975, Sapir is director of editorial services for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a post he has held for the past 10 years. He directs, edits and writes articles on a regular basis for trade, association and consumer magazines, and he writes and edits NSSF’s monthly electronic Member News and The Range Report, as well as its quarterly First Shot News and its Annual Review. Sapir previously worked in editor positions for Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, and Field and Stream. When he joined the staff at Field and Stream, Sapir was one of only three to have served as editor on all the famous “Big Three.” From there, he left to form Ashmark Communications before eventually joining the team at NSSF. He is a past president of OWAA, was twice elected by his peers as Outstanding Board Member and also received the association’s great J. Hammond Brown Award, and is a several-times national writing and photography winner.

Shannon Tompkins, of Houston, Texas, received the 2013 Jade of Chiefs Award. The Jade of Chiefs Award was first established in 1958 as OWAA’s top conservation award. Although only OWAA members are eligible, it is not actually presented by the organization, but by past award winners, who are known as the Circle of Chiefs. Only these members of the Circle can nominate a new member and can vote. The Circle is recognized as the OWAA’s conservation conscience and policy spokesman.

In announcing this year’s award, past recipient Michael Furtman cited Tompkins’ “dogged determination to educate the public on the conservation and environmental challenges, losses and victories. It is in his blood. He could no more NOT care about nature than he could stop breathing. Such determination has in many cases meant he was less than popular with his editors or supervisors – speaking the truth can sometimes do that.” Furtman went on to say, “Far from a hook-and-bullet writer (which [Tompkins] also does with great aplomb), he covers natural resources like no one else in the state, and few in the nation.”

2013 OWAA Outstanding Board Member — Award recipient Paul Queneau with 2012-13 Board President Mark Taylor.

Paul Queneau, of Missoula, Mont., received the 2013 Outstanding Board Member Award. A member since 2007, he is conservation editor for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s Bugle Magazine.

Aside from being active on several committees before and now as a member of OWAA’s board, Queneau has been instrumental in the growing success of Off the Record, an informal monthly gathering of outdoor media individuals from across western Montana. His energy and devotion to the association has also proved beneficial in the founding of a student chapter of OWAA at the University of Montana in Missoula.

“He listens to others and then is thoughtful about what he says about issues,” said Bill Graham, president of the OWAA board of directors. “He’s willing to tackle chores that take up his spare time. One of the best and brightest board members I’ve ever worked with, and a great guy.”

Further information about the award recipients and conference will appear in the December/January issue of Outdoors Unlimited.

OWAA elects two to key board positions

October 24, 2013 By Tom Sadler

FROM OWAA NEWS:

MISSOULA, Mont. – At the recent Outdoor Writers Association of America annual conference, the OWAA Board of Directors elected Lisa Densmore, of Red Lodge, Mont., to serve as second vice president of the association. Mark Herwig, of St. Paul, Minn., was elected secretary of the board.

Lisa Densmore recently served on the OWAA Board of Directors from 2008-2011. She will serve a three-year term as vice president, ascending to OWAA president in 2015. An OWAA member since 2003, Densmore is an award-winner communicator who has worked in a variety of media outlets, from television to writing and photographing for print and online outlets, covering a wide range of outdoor subjects.

In a letter provided to her electors – the OWAA Board of Directors – Densmore wrote: “At my first conference, 2004 in Spokane, Wash., I had the good fortune to win the President’s Choice Award for television production for my first-ever entry in the Excellence in Craft Contests. After receiving my plaque, my mentor, the late Tony Dean, congratulated me and then said, ‘Lisa, you’ve really come into this organization with a bang, but to truly get the most out of it, you gotta give back.’ I took his words to heart, and they’ve proved true year after year. OWAA has given me work opportunities, new skills and friendships. As importantly, I’ve had the pleasure and personal reward of helping OWAA members and the organization itself meet its challenges … I believe the combination of my longtime involvement with OWAA as a professional journalist and my other work experiences would allow me to competently fulfill the duties of second vice president.”

Mark Herwig will serve a three-year term as secretary of the OWAA Board of Directors. He has been an outdoor writer since freelancing for the Colorado Outdoors and Colorado Wildlife Federation magazines in the early 1980s. He has been editor of Pheasants Forever’s three magazines and a blog since 1998, as well as freelance writer for such publications as the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association’s Whitetales magazine and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resource’s Conservation Volunteer magazine.

“My newest passion is improving 44 acres of forest I purchased last year near Duluth, Minnesota, for game and non-game wildlife. I was asked to run for this position by a current board member and, considering what the outdoors has given me and the OWAA, I felt it was time to give back,” Herwig said.

Bill Graham elected OWAA president

October 23, 2013 By Tom Sadler

FROM OWAA NEWS:

MISSOULA, Mont. – At its 86th annual conference in Lake Placid, N.Y., the Outdoor Writers Association of America elected Bill Graham as president of the association for 2013-14. Graham will serve one year as president of the OWAA Board of Directors.

“How lucky we are as outdoor communicators to work with heart, soul and spirit,” Graham said. “This business involves catching a fish, shooting a deer, hiking a trail and making a living. But we’re drawn to it because nature and spending time outdoors with family and friends moves something deep inside us. When our writing and pictures connect with readers and viewers and moves them, the experience becomes even larger.”

Graham noted that the Miracle on Ice hockey rink from the 1980 Winter Olympics, where an amateur USA team beat a professional-level Russian team, was down the hall from the conference meeting site. Achieving a boyhood dream of becoming an outdoor writer seemed far away when sportscaster Al Michaels asked “do you believe in miracles” as team USA won. But Graham said help from OWAA members helped him over the years overcome challenges to master new skills and become a full-time outdoor communicator.

“I do believe in miracles,” Graham said. “OWAA made mine possible. That’s what we do, we help each other grow, get better and learn how to make business ends meet.”

A member of OWAA since 1985, Graham was on the OWAA Board of Directors from 2006-2009 and subsequently elected to the Executive Committee in 2010.

“Bill Graham has a special gift for leadership. He knows how to calmly and patiently get his point across and get the best out of people,” said OWAA Executive Director Tom Sadler.

Graham grew up fishing and hunting in southwest Missouri where the eastern woodlands meet the western prairies. His hometown is Nevada, Mo. He lives at Platte City, Mo., with his wife, Sherry, and their two children. He is a media specialist for the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Bringing you the news from OWAA

October 22, 2013 By Tom Sadler

As executive director of the Outdoor Writers Association of America, I know first hand how important our work is. The opportunity to be part of the leadership team at OWAA is exciting, challenging and a career highlight for me.

OWAA is comprised of more than 800 individual outdoor communicators from the broad, modern spectrum of outdoor beats, from shooting to camping, fishing to kayaking, wildlife watching to backpacking. We believe in improving the professional skills of our members, setting the highest ethical and communications standards, encouraging public enjoyment and conservation of natural resources, and being mentors for the next generation of professional outdoor communicators.

We do that by networking with fellow professional communicators, publishing Outdoors Unlimited magazine, offering job and editorial listings in our Outdoor Market and most notably, hosting our annual conference. We offer craft improvement advice, industry news, information on technology trends, available job openings, conservation news, and business advice.

While much of what we do is aimed at our members and supporters, we do share a fair amount of information with the public.

I will be sharing that public information here on Dispatches. My goal is to help spread the news but also to offer you a view into the world of OWAA.

If you want more information about OWAA you can find it at OWAA.org.

If you are interested in learning about joining OWAA take a look at OWAA.org/join.