I was in Thomasville for the annual Georgia Outdoor Writers Association conference. The highlight of the conference for me was the banquet on Saturday night where “Excellence in Craft” awards were presented.

Each year members of the organization submit our work in about ten different categories. These works are then sent to another state, in this year’s case South Carolina, to be judged by outdoor writers there.

With about 30 outdoor writers submitting their best work in each category to be judged, it is a great honor to win one of these awards.

We did not have a conference this past year due to COVID so judged works were done in 2019. I won first place in the Ducks, Unlimited category for an article “Sportsman Night Out” and second place in the category Non-Game Outdoor Recreation for the article “Life Cycle of White Oak Can Be All-Encompassing.” Both ran in the Griffin Daily News.

I hope some of my articles this past year are good enough to be considered for competition.