This is ECS's premier award and is for an outstanding contribution to the field of marine mammal conservation and/or welfare,
with particular emphasis on contributions to environmental education and/or to conservation in practice
The award is open to everyone and applications can be made via the simple process described below.
The winner(s) of the award is decided by the awards committee which is comprised of previous award winners. The awards committee ideally makes its conclusion by consensus, although a simple majority vote can be used if necessary. Advice may be sought from other ECS members and experts if this is thought to be helpful.
The process is overseen by Mark Simmonds, the Award Secretary (appointed by the ECS Council), and the President of the Society.
The award will usually be announced during the ECS Conference
Whilst to date the award has been given to distinguished individuals it can also be given for a particular contribution (such as a book, scientific paper or a particular project) or for an entire body of work – e.g. a series of linked contributions)
Application Process
This year the deadline for submissions is March 18th 2024 and applications should follow this format:
Name of the person or project nominated for award, their address and contact details;
Description of the body of work proposed for the award (maximum length of proposal 500 words);
Full references for the material identified above and any relevant web-links; and
Name of nominator(s), their addresses and contact details.
Self-nominations are not accepted.
This form, and any supporting material if deemed necessary, should be sent to the Award Secretary, Mark Simmonds, by the deadline: mark.simmonds@sciencegyre.co.uk
Previous Award Winners:
The past recipients of the award are
Krzysztof Skóra (2011)
Peter Evans (2012)
Erich Hoyt (2013)
Erich Hoyt was honored with the ECS Mandy McMath Award 2013. Read more here.
Nick Tregenza (2014)
Nick Tregenza, aka "The Pod Father", receives the ECS Mandy McMath award 2014. Read more here.
Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara (2015)
Guiseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara ist the Winner of the 2015 ECS Mandy McMath Award. Read more here.
Hal Whitehead (2016)
Mark Simmonds announces the ECS Mandy McMath Award winner Hal Whitehead. Read more here and a statement by CMS here.
Hal Whitehead and Heidrun Frisch-Nwakanma present the Mandy McMath Award.
Heidrun Frisch-Nwakanma (2017)
Mario Acquarone hands over the ECS Mandy McMath Award to Heidrun Frisch-Nwakanma. Read more here.
Dan Jarvis and Tilen Genov (2018)
Dan Jarvis is one of the winners of the ECS Mandy McMath Award 2018.
Tilen Genov receives the Mandy McMath Award by ECS-Chair Mario Acquarone and previous years' winner Heidrun Frisch-Nwakanma. Read more here.
Paul Jepson (2019)
Bernd Würsig (2023)
Bernd Gerhard Würsig and his wife Melany with the Award in 2023.