The Distinguished Service Award was established in 1980 and recognizes outstanding contributions of time and energy for special projects or activities by AFS members. The number of recipients may vary from year to year, with no mandatory number to be selected.  A single member, a group of members, and AFS staff are eligible candidates.

The award is administered by a special committee including the AFS President-Elect and at least two Governing Board members or immediate past members, each representing a different Division and appointed by the AFS President.

Submit Your Nomination

AFS is using a new awards submission platform for 2023! Awards should be submitted online unless otherwise noted at https://afsawards.awardsplatform.com/.

Nominations typically require a candidate’s name, full contact information, biographical information, and qualifications for the award and/or history of service to the Society. The nomination package should include a cover/nomination letter that describes the nominee’s qualifications and any relevant projects; letter should include the title and contact information for both the nominator and the nominee. Cover letters should be limited to two pages.

Up to three supporting documents will be accepted for each nomination. Supporting documents may include a current CV (up to 4 pages) and additional supporting letters (up to 2 pages).

 

The Awards Committee is dedicated to AFS goal of increasing diversity and inclusion within our Society. As part of this effort, we highly encourage nominations for individuals from historically underrepresented groups in the fisheries field.

2023 Award Nominations should be submitted online at https://afsawards.awardsplatform.com/

Nomination deadline: April 1, 2023.

Contact: Dale Burkett, Committee Chair

 

Past Recipients of the Distinguished Service Award

• 1980 C. Dale Becker, William Beckman, Donald A. Duff, John J. Magnuson, Mercer Patriarche, C. Richard Robins, Robert Thurston
• 1981 Terry A. Haines, Jay V. Huner, Stanley A. Moberly, Richard Wydoski
• 1982 Edward Mertens, AFS Staff
• 1983 J Frances Allen, C. Gordon Fredine
• 1984 Raymond Hubley, Carl R. Sullivan
• 1985 Mercer Patriarche
• 1986 Carl V. Burger, Don Chase, John P. Harville, John J. Ney, Stephen G. Rideout, Roy A. Stein
• 1987 Willis A. Evans
• 1988 Anthony Novotny
• 1989 Donald D. Flescher, Donald M. Martin
• 1990 Robert L. Kendall, Fred P. Binkowski
• 1991 Ben D. Jaco
• 1992 Delano R. Graff, Victor S. Kennedy, Nick C. Parker, Lee C. Redmond, William W. Taylor, Yanin Walker, Vidar Wespestad
• 1993 Susan Shipman, John Gottschalk
• 1994 Robert Carline, Joe Dillard
• 1995 Dale Burkett, Sally Kendall
• 1996 Robert Wiley, Barry Johnson
• 1997 Ira Adelman, Phyllis H. Cahn, Charles C. Coutant, Thomas A. Edsall, John M. Grizzle, L. Esteban (Steve) Miranda, Robert G. Piper, John A. Plumb, Wilmer A. Rogers, Thomas E. Wissing
• 1998 Thomas Coon, Mary Fabrizio, Fred Harris, Robert LeHew
• 1999 Margaret S. Ewing, Betsy Fritz, Leslie E. Holland-Bartels, Barbara A. Knuth, Richard J. Neves, Beth D. Staehle,
• 2000 John A. Musick, Jennifer L. Nielsen, Names of Fishes Committee
• 2001 Fred Utter, Joe Margraf
• 2002 Carl Burger, Jim Martin, Dirk Miller
• 2003 William Wilson, John Nickum, Cindy Williams, Dave Allison, Don MacKinlay, Jacqueline Savino, Tom Boland, Randy Schultz
• 2004 Gene Fritz, Ken Beal, Mark Brouder
• 2005 Linda E. Bireley, Dave Cross, Thomas E. Bigford, Dana C. Schmidt, Bruce R. Ward, Tony J. Pitcher
• 2006 William J. Wilson, Michael D. Porter, Eric E. Knudsen
• 2007 Henry E. Booke, Robert (Bob) L. Curry, Dennis DeVries, Donald C. Jackson
• 2008 Christopher S. Guy, Michael L. Brown, T. Douglas Beard, Nancy Leonard, Donna Turgeon
• 2009 Steven Cooke, Melissa Wuellner
• 2010 Gwen White and Charles Moseley
• 2011 Colleen Caldwell, Jesse Trushenski, and The Tennessee Chapter of AFS
• 2012 Andrew Loftus
• 2013 The Executive Director Search Committee
• 2014 Stanley Moberly
• 2015 Jill Jenkins, James Bowker, Jessica Mistak and Margaret Murphy
• 2016 Donald Gabelhouse Jr.
• 2017 Yushun Chen and Lee Benaka
• 2018 Shawn Johnston
• 2019 Daniel Daugherty
• 2020 Aaron Bunch
• 2021 Joseph Conroy
• 2022 Rebecca Krogman and the Climate Ambassadors Steering Committee (Julie Claussen, Carolyn Hall, Katie O’Reilly, Drue Winters)
• 2023 Rebecca Brown and Julie Simpson