South Carolina Environmental Awareness Award

Promoting Environmental Awareness and Acknowledging Extraordinary Accomplishments in the Protection, Conservation, and Improvement of Our Natural Resources

The state of South Carolina is seeking nominations for an award to recognize individuals who are doing extraordinary work for the natural environment. Nominations will be accepted through March 31, 2021.

The S.C. General Assembly established the S.C. Environmental Awareness Award 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, which includes representatives from the state’s natural resource agencies. In judging nominees, the committee considers excellence in innovation, leadership, and accomplishments that influence positive changes affecting the natural environment.

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.

The S.C. Environmental Awareness Award is presented annually in late winter/early spring.

Submit a Nomination

Download and review the Guidelines and Nomination Form S(PDF). Complete the nomination form, write a description of the nominee's accomplishments, and submit this information to the agency address indicated on the form.

The deadline for submitting nominations is March 31, 2021.

Previous Winners of the S.C. Environmental Awareness Award

• 2019 – Gloria S. McCutcheon, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, Claflin University
• 2018 – Patrick McMillan, Ph.D., Clemson University, S.C. Botanical Garden
• 2016 – Sean Poppy, Outreach Educator, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
• 2015 – Mark Madden, Environmental Educator, Charleston County Parks
• 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, USC
• 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 Lab
• 1994 – Marion Burnside, Chairman, S.C. Department of Natural Resources
• 1993 – Dana Beach, Executive Director, S.C. Coastal Conservation League
• 1992 – Rudy Mancke, Naturalist, S.C. Educational Television