The James Mason Award is awarded at our annual banquet dinner every Spring to an individual or group that has demonstrated a commitment to bird conservation and/or environmental education in Indiana, particularly in the Wabash Valley.
Have an idea for a nomination? Please email Carissa Lovett at
carissa.lovett@terrehaute.in.gov
with a description of the individual/group being nominated.
Past winners of the award (and their affiliations) include:
2023 Barbary Weber, Vigo Invasives Management
2022 Nick Gabry, WVAS & Indiana State University
2021 Mike Lunsford, Terre Haute Tribune-Star
2020 No award given
2019 Carissa Lovett, Dobbs Park Nature Center, WVAS
2018 Joy O'Keefe, ISU Center for NA Bat Research and Conservation
2017 Marty Jones, WVAS & Ouabache Land Conservancy
2016 Ellen Lunsford & Amber Slaughterbeck, Wabashiki Turtle Research & Rescue team
2015
2014 Joe Dickson, WVAS
2013 Clint Murray, Lye Creek Prairie Burn aka “The Burn”
2012 Phil and Brenda Milliren, WVAS
2011 Max Miller, Wabash Valley Riverscape
2010 Susie Dewey, WVAS
2009 Peter Scott, WVAS, Indiana State University Biology
2008 TREES Inc., Terre Haute, Indiana
2007 No award given
2006 James McDonald, Indiana landowner practicing conservation and stewardship of his land
2005 John Whitaker, ISU Center for NA Bat Research and Conservation
2004 Gene Muench, WVAS
2003 Alan Bruner, WVAS, Indiana Audubon Society
2002 Charles Keller, co-author of Birds of Indiana
2001 No award given
2000 "Six from the Sixties", WVAS founders: Ruth Erickson, Betty Munsee, Ken & Pearl Eslinger, Henry & Margaret Tamar
1999 John Bacone, Indiana Department of Natural Resources
1998 Marshall Parks, WVAS, Indiana State University Life Sciences
1997 James Gammon, DePauw University
1996 Amy Mason, WVAS, Indiana Audubon Society, Indiana Garden Club
1995 Paul Carmony, The Nature Conservancy
1994 Marion Jackson, WVAS, Indiana State University Life Sciences
1993 Terri Moore, Indiana Natural Resource Commission
1992 Keith Ruble, Vigo County Parks Dept.
1991 H. Samuel Phipps, Indiana Department of Natural Resources
1990 Jack Munsee, WVAS, Indiana State University Life Sciences