Stony Brook, NY, June 14, 2011 - New York Sea Grant is proud to announce that it has won a Gold Award for New York Coastlines, the quarterly newsletter of New York Sea Grant, in the 2011 ACE Critique and Awards Program in the category for writing with a specialized publication. Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) President-elect Elaine Edwards said, “This is quite an accomplishment, considering that 233 entries were submitted in this year’s program. You deserve much credit and recognition for your excellent work.”

Says NYSG Communications Manager Barbara Branca, the publication’s managing editor since 1998, “I am very pleased to accept this Gold Award on behalf of our NYSG Communications staff. We take great pride in our publication which was newly designed in 2010 . New York Sea Grant’s newsletter and motto have been constants within the national Sea Grant network for decades. It is fitting that we win gold as we celebrate 40 years of ‘Bringing Science to the Shore.’”

The award-winning issues included lead articles written by Branca such as “The Quiet Before the Storm?” about the threat of storm surges in New York City, and “Under the Microscope with VHS,” about ground-breaking research on the fish disease pathogen, written by Paul Focazio, NYSG’s Web Content Manager.

Says ACE judge Doug Cooper, these were “some excellent examples of solid writing techniques that can keep a diverse audience engaged in a science and technical based newsletter.” Branca and Focazio do the majority of the newsletter’s writing with some contribution from other staff. “The goal has always been to have a balance of stories about our research and outreach efforts from both New York’s marine and Great Lakes districts,” says Branca. “Thanks to everyone’s expertise, we’ve come up with a winner.”

The awards were announced on June 12, 2011 at the 10th joint meeting of the National Extension Technology Conference and the Association for Communications Excellence held in Denver. These awards are open to anyone who has produced communications projects for organization in the public sector.

There were three issues of New York Coastlines produced during the judging period in 2010. They are as follows:

• Spring 2010: "The Quiet Before the Storm?" (click here)
  
  
• Summer 2010: "Under the Microscope with VHS" (click here)
  
  
• Fall 2010: "A WWWeb of Lake Ontario Learning" (click here)

New York Sea Grant, now in its 40th year, is a statewide network of integrated research, education, and extension services promoting the coastal economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness about the State's marine and Great Lakes resources. One of 32 university-based programs under the NOAA’s National Sea Grant College Program, NYSG is a cooperative program of the State University of New York and Cornell University.