Monday, June 17, 2019

OWAA Announces Madson Fellowship Winners

Three members of OWAA will receive John Madson Fellowships this year to offset costs of attending skill-building conferences and workshops.

Ashley Stimpson, Colleen Miniuk, and Paul Presson were the unanimous selections of a three-member panel from OWAA’s Circle of Chiefs.

The Madson Fellowship honors the legacy of John Madson, one of the OWAA’s most talented and respected writers. The program's goal is to enhance professional communication skills for outdoor communicators.

Stimpson was awarded $1,600, Miniuk $1,000, and Presson $400.

Stimpson is a Baltimore-based travel and outdoors writer who most often writes about Mid-Atlantic adventures by paddle, foot, or fins. Her features have been published in Chesapeake Bay Magazine, Baltimore Style, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources magazine – Maryland Natural Resources. Her literary nonfiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Camas, Split Rock Review, and Driftless Magazine.

A Midwesterner by birth, Stimpson believes all landscapes (even the dusty, flat ones) and the wilderness they encompass are worth of respect and awe. She writes to inspire curiosity and a greater sense of belonging in her readers.

A new OWAA member, Stimpson said she plans to attend just about every panel at OWAA’s Little Rock conference, June 22-24.

Miniuk left the corporate world in 2007 to pursue a freelance photography career. An Arizona-based photographer and writer, she shifted exclusively into outdoor photography in 2010 after attending the OWAA conference in Rochester, Minnesota.

Her photo credits include National Geographic calendars, Arizona Highways, AAA Via, National Parks Traveler, and On Landscape. She has authored and self-published two photography guidebooks and leads photography workshops, including women’s photography retreats called Sheography.

Miniuk plans to use the Madson Fellowship to attend the Fishtrap Outpost writing workshop with renowned author Craig Childs on the Snake River in September.

Presson is a Special Operations, Desert Storm military veteran of 15 years. After leaving the service, he pursued a professional aeronautics degree at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida and began a successful career in logistics management.

A military injury prevented him from working full time. An avid kayak angler and nature lover, he was no longer able to kayak fish, so he turned to writing about his past adventures. Since then, Presson has been published nationally and internationally. His writing has morphed into cartooning and photography. He also works with a non-profit disabled veterans’ group that enables veterans to get on the water for a day of fishing.

Presson, who also plans to attend OWAA’s Little Rock conference, will use his Madson Fellowship stipend to enroll in a digital photography class at St. Petersburg College in Florida.

The Madson Fellowship Fund is an endowment that thrives primarily through member contributions and fundraising efforts. Donations to the Madson Fellowship Fund can be made online at https://owaa.org/store/donation/ or by mail to OWAA, 2814 Brooks St. Box 442, Missoula, MT, 59801.

OWAA is The Voice of the Outdoors®. The Outdoor Writers Association of America is the oldest and largest association of professional outdoor communicators in the United States. It was organized in 1927 by members of the Izaak Walton League of America and includes professional communicators dedicated to sharing the outdoor experience. OWAA’s professionals include writers, photographers, outdoors radio- and television-show hosts, book authors, videographers, lecturers and artists. The association is headquartered in Missoula, Montana. For more information, contact Outdoor Writers Association of America, 2814 Brooks Street, Box 442, Missoula, Montana, 59801, 406-728-7434,info@owaa.org; www.owaa.org.