S.C. Sea Grant Consortium

South Carolina Environmental Awareness Award

Nominations are closed for the 2018 award. Nominations for 2019 will be open in early 2020.

About the Award

The S.C. Environmental Awareness Award was established by S.C. General Assembly during the 1992 legislative session to recognize outstanding contributions made toward the protection, conservation, and improvement of South Carolina’s natural resources.

Each year the public is invited to submit nominations that are then reviewed by an awards committee. In judging nominees, the committee considers excellence in innovation, leadership, and accomplishments that influence positive changes affecting the natural environment.

Awards Committee

Members of the awards committee represent the S.C. Forestry Commission, S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, S.C. Department of Natural Resources, and the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium.

Previous Award Winners

  • 2016 – Sean Poppy, Outreach Educator, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
  • 2015 – Mark Madden, Environmental Educator, Charleston County PRC
  • 2014 – George W. McDaniel, Ph.D., Director of Drayton Hall Plantation
  • 2013 – Joseph R. Hamilton, Founder of the Quality Deer Management Association
  • 2012 – Thomas Kester, Chairman and Treasurer for the Conestee Foundation
  • 2011 – Dr. Patricia J. DeCoursey, Professor of Biological Sciences at USC
  • 2010 – Frank S. Holleman, III, President, Naturaland Trust
  • 2009 – Dr. Fred Holland, Coastal Ecologist, Charleston
  • 2008 – Benjamin Ziegler, Chairman, Pee Dee Land Trust
  • 2007 – Dr. Richard Porcher, Jr., Professor Emeritus, The Citadel
  • 2006 – Rick Huffman, Founder, South Carolina Native Plant Society
  • 2004 – John L. Knott, Jr., President, Noisette Company, North Charleston
  • 2003 – Burris Family, Owners, Cypress Bay Plantation Tree Farm, Beaufort
  • 2002 – Dr. Jack Turner, Director, Watershed Ecology Center, Univ. of South Carolina
  • 2001 – James D. Elliott, Jr., Founder, South Carolina Center for Birds of Prey
  • 2000 – Dr. Dave Hargett, Conservationist, Greenville
  • 1999 – Kenneth Strickland, Environmentalist, Florence
  • 1998 – Yancey A. McLeod, Jr., Environmental Educator, Eastover
  • 1997 – Brad Wyche, President, Friends of the Reedy River, Greenville
  • 1996 – Beaufort County Clean Water Task Force
  • 1995 – Dr. Whitfield Gibbons, Senior Research Ecologist, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
  • 1994 – Marion Burnside, Chairman, S.C. Department of Natural Resources
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