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Sullivan Award Committee
2008–2010 term
Chair
Usha Lee McFarling, South Pasadena, California
Members
Robin Bell, Lamont-Doherty Observatory, Palisades, New York
Cindy Clark, SIO Communications, La Jolla, California
Michelle Nijhuis, Paonia, Colorado
Ross Stein, United States Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California
Staff Liaisons
Laura Skoff
Peter Weiss
Danica Williams
Committee Charge
This Committee is charged with selecting the recipient of the Walter Sullivan Award; the final decision is subject to the approval of the Executive Committee. The Sullivan Award recognizes excellence in science journalism and is given to a journalist for an outstanding single feature in any medium that makes the Earth and space sciences accessible and interesting to the general public. Entries for the Sullivan Award have deadlines of longer than a week but may not be book-length items. The award is given not more often than annually.
The Committee will consider how effectively each submission meets one or more of the following criteria: brings to the public's attention new information or concepts in the Earth and space sciences; identifies and corrects misconceptions about these sciences; makes these sciences accessible and interesting to general audiences without sacrificing accuracy.
Entries for the Sullivan Award may come from AGU members or members of the press or may be self-nominations. As part of the recommendation to the Executive Committee, the Committee must state the number of entries they considered, how many were suggested by AGU members, and which media were represented. The Committee is also expected to describe the process used for reaching their decision. The role of the Executive Committee is to accept or reject the recommendation of the Committee on the basis of its evaluation of the process and its own reading of the recommended entry. Whereas the Executive Committee may not alter the choice, it can ask for further clarification or additional deliberation.
All deliberations and recommendations of all AGU award committees must remain strictly confidential.
–July 2008