The Ludlow Griscom Award for Outstanding Contributions in Regional Ornithology is an award bestowed by the American Birding Association upon individuals who are determined to have "dramatically advanced the state of ornithological knowledge for a particular region," through long-term studies of status and distribution, the writing and/or publication of field guides to birds of a certain area, work as part of a breeding bird atlas project, through the publishing of academic papers on regional ornithology, or through their efforts in inspiring and teaching about the subject of birding.

One of five awards presented by the ABA for contributions to ornithology, the award is named after Ludlow Griscom, considered the "Dean of the Birdwatchers", a pioneer in field ornithology, and one of the first ornithologists to stress the importance of identification of birds in the field as opposed to the collection of specimens. The Ludlow Griscom Award was first presented to Roger Tory Peterson, considered the father of the modern field guide, in 1980. In its early years, the award was more broadly designated to recognize "outstanding contributions to excellence in field birding." After being awarded in 1981, it was awarded biennially from 1984 to 1998; since then, it has been awarded on an annual basis.

List of winners Since the award's inception in 1980, there have been 34 recipients, including several years in which more than one award was given.

Year Name Notes 1980 Roger Tory Peterson ABA also grants the Roger Tory Peterson Award 1981 Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr. 1984 Chandler Robbins ABA also grants the Chandler Robbins Award 1986 Jim Lane 1988 Susan Roney Drennan 1990 Guy McCaskie 1992 Kenn Kaufman Youngest award winner 1994 Theodore A. Parker III Posthumous award 1996 Richard Pough 1998 Claudia Wilds Posthumous award; ABA also grants the Claudia Wilds Award 1999 Stuart Keith First president of the ABA 2000 W. Earl Godfrey 2001 Peter Pyle 2002 Rich Stallcup 2003 Bob and Martha Sargent 2004 Bret Whitney 2005 Wayne R. Petersen 2006 James Dinsmore 2007 Ruth Green 2008 Bill Fenimore 2009 Jim McCormac 2010 Joseph Morlan 2011 Tom Rusert 2012 Mark Lockwood 2012 Ian A. McLaren 2013 Geoffrey Williamson 2014 Kenneth Brock 2014 Tom Kent 2015 Dale Zimmerman 2016 Keith Russell 2018 Debra Love ("Debi") Shearwater 2018 Alan R. Smith 2018 Daphne Gemmill 2024Ned Brinkley2024Brian Patteson

See also

List of ornithology awards

References