Saturday evening was one of celebrating coastal stewards, supporters and volunteers during North Carolina Coastal Federation’s annual Pelican Awards and Taste of the Coast fundraising event.

The nonprofit organization that publishes Coastal Review was established in 1982 with the mission to protect and preserve the state’s coast and has offices on the Outer Banks, the central coast and Cape Fear region.

Held in Carteret Community College’s Joslyn Hall, the staff presented 15 Pelican Awards to those who have shared “their time and talents, through leadership, education, hands-on projects, and volunteer efforts, to inspire others and create lasting change,” according to the organization.

The Taste of the Coast fundraising celebration followed the ceremony next door in the Crystal Coast Civic Center, where there was food, live music and a silent auction.

This is the 22nd year that the organization has recognized “exceptional contributions” with Pelican Awards.

Federation Board of Directors Vice President Kenneth Chestnut told the roughly 200 in the audience that the Pelican Awards annually “recognize and celebrate the organizations, agencies, partners and the extraordinary people who work together for a healthy coast.”

He continued that the awards are “about partnerships and coming together for a common cause, and that’s the protection and restoration of our beautiful coast.”

Federation Executive Director Braxton Davis presented one of the two Lifetime Achievement Awards this year to Dr. Hans Paerl, “For a Distinguished Career Dedicated to Coastal Research, Protection, and Restoration.”

Paerl, who recently retired after 47 years, is a Kenan Professor of Marine Environmental Sciences at University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City.

“Paerl has spent decades uncovering the secret of healthy waterways and applying that knowledge to protect the coast,” Davis said.

Paerl’s accomplishments include establishing the FerryMon program, where he turned state ferries into long-term water quality monitoring stations for the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds.

“His groundbreaking research has shown how nutrients and climate affect water quality, how harmful algal blooms form, and most importantly, what we can do to safeguard our estuaries and coastal waters for future generations,” Davis said of Paerl, whose work has appeared in 600 scientific publications. His many honors include the 2003 G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award for work in oceanography, the 2011 Odom Award in estuarine science, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Harmful Algal Bloom committee.

Paerl took the podium with ease and explained to the crowd that he was thrilled to be able to talk about the scientific achievements made in the state to help protect its waters, particularly going way back to the phosphate detergent ban enacted in the 1980s, and the establishment of a total maximum daily nitrogen load for the Neuse River, “which has been effective, and I’m glad to say that we’re seeing some really good results from that now.”

But, Paerl continued, “more importantly, I think I’d like to share this award with all the students, technicians, faculty and collaborators that have worked with me.” He called himself “more of a facilitator” who knocks on doors in the legislature to point “out that good science brings good management and good decisions.”

Though he’s retired, Paerl said he is indebted to those he has worked with and hasn’t stopped knocking on doors and talking to folks and collaborating.

“I’m still showing up at work, and we’re all dedicated — I’m really speaking for all the folks that I’ve worked with — we’re all dedicated, from the science perspective,” Paerl said, to make North Carolina an example for other states, the country and the world, “in terms of using science to really make a difference, in terms of protecting our environment, saving it and making sure it’s sustainable for the long run.”

Federation Coastal Management Program Director Kerri Allen of the Wrightsville Beach office presented to David Cignotti a Lifetime Achievement Award “For Outstanding Community Leadership, Collaboration, and Dedication to Coastal Stewardship.”

Cignotti is someone “who embodies the heart and soul of this community,” Allen said, and “is one of those rare people who leads a quiet strength, deep humility and a genuine love for nature that you can feel in everything he does.”

A lifelong educator, former mayor of Wrightsville Beach and dedicated steward of the Coastal Federation, he helped launch a membership drive that brought in more than 60 new families, has been a site coordinator with an international coastal cleanup effort for at least a decade, and is a cofounder of Save Our Seas NC. Cignotti also served on the Coastal Federation’s southeast advisory committee, its board of directors, and he chaired the audit committee.

“When the coast needs a voice, he speaks up,” Allen said, whether that’s bringing attention to the use of bird poison on Wrightsville Beach, protecting trees from unnecessary clearcutting, or making sure local businesses have a say in offshore drilling proposals.

Cignotti expressed his gratitude, adding that he couldn’t think of another organization with more than 40 years of advocacy for the coastal environment, and “cannot imagine getting an award that I would cherish more than what I’m getting tonight.”

He continued that one of his favorite quotes is from Jacques Cousteau, “that people protect what they love. And I think that pretty much sums up what we’re doing here tonight. Everybody that came tonight loves North Carolina’s coast and is here to support the coastal Federation’s mission.”

Northeast region awards

Alyson Flynn, coastal advocate at the Coastal Federation’s Wanchese office, presented three awards for the Outer Banks area.

“All three of our recipients in the Northeast embody the spirit of the Pelican Award in their own unique way, from on the ground restoration work to grassroots volunteerism, to forward thinking leadership that shapes the future of our coast,” Flynn said.

Volunteer Donnie Sellers was recognized “For Exceptional Contributions and Stewardship of Our Coast.”

Sellers said he appreciates what the Coastal Federation does and all the hard work of the staff, which he says he sees firsthand at the northeast office, “but mostly I’m grateful for how generous and kind they are, because that’s — It’s probably not what I should say — but that’s really what keeps me coming back.”

Volunteer Leonard “Len” Schmitz was awarded “For Outstanding Volunteer Efforts to Advance Oyster Shell Recycling.”

Schmitz told the audience he wanted to share the award with his fellow recyclers on the Outer Banks, adding “we couldn’t do this without the help of the restaurants.”

National Park Service’s Outer Banks Group Superintendent David Hallac was honored “For Leadership and Dedication to Coastal Protection, Recreation and Cultural Resources.”

The group includes Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Wright Brothers National Memorial and Fort Raleigh National Historic Site.

Flynn explained that Hallac had since 2015 managed one of the most iconic and dynamic barrier island systems in our nation and faces regular challenges, such as rising seas, chronic erosion, collapsing homes, petroleum contamination and increasing fragility of N.C. 12, the state highway, all while welcoming over 3 million visitors each year.

“From 1985 until 1999 I came from a small town right outside of New York City to the Outer Banks,” Hallac said as he accepted his award.

“I spent the entire year dreaming about coming to the beach there. I had no idea I would end up managing the three lighthouses there and 80 miles of beaches and 200 miles of incredible coastal marshes, it’s been just absolutely amazing,” Hallac continued. “It’s a little bit ironic at the same time that all of the things that shape these beautiful places, sometimes it appears we’re fighting against it. And so it’s my goal. It’s our goal, to find ways to change, to adapt to the things that are shaping our coastline, to be able to coexist in these places and also to preserve them for future generations.”

Central Coast awards

The nonprofit Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail received a Pelican Award “For Dedicated Partnership to Protect and Restore Coastal Water Quality and Habitats.”

Water Quality Program Director Bree Charron, based in Carteret County, explained that the Friends group has, over the past five years, worked to secure and help purchase 787 acres to create an 11-mile-long trail through the North River Wetlands Preserve in Carteret County. The Friends supports the trail that connects Jockey’s Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains.

Ben Jones, a project manager with the Friends group, said its members were excited to help restore and showcase the preserve.

“There’s lots of land we still need for the trail anyway,” he said, “and I hope this is just the beginning, too, because it’s really important for us to provide access for people to these special places that we’re protecting.”

Jessica Guilianelli with Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point was recognized “For Supporting, Promoting, and Advancing the Use of Living Shorelines.”

April Hall is with the salt marsh program and said when she joined the Coastal Federation staff a few years ago she took over a living shoreline project along the Neuse River at Cherry Point.

“At the time, the Federation had secured funding to support construction of roughly 2,000 feet of a much larger 12,000-foot living shoreline project led by Jessica Guilianelli,” Hall said. “And in case anyone is trying to do the math, 12,000 feet is about 2.3 miles. So to say this was an ambitious project would be an understatement.”

The site had experienced severe shoreline erosion, losing more than 100 feet in some areas since 1994, and worsened by Hurricane Florence in 2018.

Under Guilianelli’s management, air station brass committed to a hybrid solution to repair critical bulkheads while incorporating living shorelines and native marsh plants to reduce wave energy and restore natural shoreline functions.

“I’m in a really, really interesting position as natural resources manager for the Marine Corps,” Guilianelli said, adding it’s a balance that challenges her daily. “It’s such a cool thing to be able to balance our military mission with conservation, and I’m grateful to be in that role.”

Lauren Johnson and Tamarr Moore, who recently earned their master’s degrees from N.C. Central University, were recognized “For Partnership and Inspiration to Advance the Next Generation of Coastal Professionals.”

Coastal Educator Rachel Bisesi of the Coastal Federation’s Newport office noted that the two women are the first graduates of a new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration program under their adviser, Dr. Caressa Gerald. The NOAA program supports students of color in environmental sciences.

“Lauren and Tamar have shown remarkable courage and resilience entering scientific spaces where representation is still far too limited. They broke barriers and paved the way for students of color to pursue coastal research. Their work has inspired others and opened the door for the next generation of environmental professionals and I can’t wait to see where their journey leads them, Bisesi said.

The graduates both thanked their parents and adviser, Gerald, who Moore said “opened a lot of doors for me and put me in many rooms that I would not have otherwise been in.” Johnson added that she was “very grateful to be in this room right now, along with other professionals” with the same drive and motivation.

Southeast region awards

Photographer Alan Cradick was honored “For Outstanding Volunteer Service to Our Coast.”

Coastal Education Coordinator Bonnie Mitchell explained that Cradick has been behind the camera “quietly and generously donating his time, energy and professional photography skills to help us tell the story of our work.”

Cradick, in accepting his award, said that it’s a privilege to be recognized, but that’s not why he volunteers. “I do it because I just love photography. I love the coast. I love working with professionals and professional volunteers who do so much wonderful things for the coast and for advancing the health of the of the ecosystems.”

Feletia Lee and Anna Reh-Gingerich were honored “For Dedicated Partnership and Commitment to Advance Watershed Restoration.”

Reh-Gingerich, watershed coordinator of Wilmington’s Heal Our Waterways Program, and Lee, chief sustainability officer at University of North Carolina Wilmington, have been working with the Coastal Federation on stormwater pollution in the Bradley and Hewlett creeks watershed.

Over the years, the project has resulted in rain gardens being installed and the use of permeable materials that absorb rain to retrofit parking lot drainage systems. The sites also serve as living classrooms, Coastal Federation Special Projects Manager Lauren Kolodij explained.

Reh-Gingerich said that she and Lee were honored to be recognized and thanked the Coastal Federation for supporting the effort. “This work is really easy to do when you have great partners to do them with.”

Paddling organization We the Water was honored for “For Excellence in Community Education and Inspiration for Coastal Protection and Restoration.”

The Wrightsville Beach Outrigger Canoe Club’s members paddled the state’s entire coast to advocate for clean water. The team paddled more than 340 miles along the coast over the course of three summers to raise awareness about the importance of clean water and raised more than $50,000 for the Coastal Federation, Kolodij said.

The Coastal Federation’s Kerri Allen, who is part of the outrigger club, accepted the award on behalf of the entire team.

“Every stroke counts, and when you get it right, you move as one, as a single force gliding through the waves,” Allen said, adding that “it’s a perfect metaphor for protecting our coast, we’re all on the same boat. Literally and figuratively, the threats and challenges we face are considerable, but we go farther and stronger when we move as one.”

Statewide awards

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Habitat Enhancement Section was recognized “For Dedicated Service and Collaboration for Oyster Habitat Creation.”

Marine Debris Program Director Ted Wilgis of the Coastal Federation’s Wrightsville Beach office, said that the division’s habitat enhancement section had since 1996 built almost 800 acres of oyster sanctuary and a cultch-planting program, where oysters can be harvested.

Jason Peters, program supervisor for restoration work, said he and Enhancement Section Chief Zach Harrison were accepting the award on behalf of all of the dedicated and hardworking state employees who are involved.

“We’ve got a crew of vessel operators, equipment operators, divers, field biologists, supervisors all play an integral role in this work. And we’re just, we’re very fortunate to have such great staff,” Peters said.

Harrison added that he and his team were “honored and humbled to be just a small cog in such a big machine driving the North Carolina coast forward and environmentalism in the U.S. forward.”

Worth Creech of the firm Native Shorelines was honored for “For Advancing Community Oyster Shell Recycling and Coastal Restoration”

Coastal Resiliency Manager Sarah Bodin said Creech “has been an absolute transformative force in the world of oyster shell recycling and coastal restoration through tireless dedication, community engagement and innovative thinking.”

He did this by building public awareness, and relationships with restaurants, volunteers and restoration professionals. “His efforts have directly contributed to restoring oyster habitats, enhancing biodiversity and protecting shorelines from erosion,” Bodin said.

Creech told the crowd that you never know what you’ll get a passion for in life, and “you certainly don’t know whether it’s going to be something as stinky as oyster shells, but it happened to me with Native Shorelines,” adding he’s always “inspired by those who did this hard work before me.”

The Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership was recognized “For Cultivating Coastal Collaboration and Empowering Educators”

Bisesi said the program empowers “educators to lead in both the classroom and the community, and provide immersive experiences and professional development by equipping teachers to with the tools they need to inspire the next generation.”

Associate Director Mark Townley told the audience that since connecting eight years ago with the organization, “I can honestly say that the Coastal Federation is an exemplar of what a partnership should and can look like to really make a huge impact with K-through-12 public school education in the state of North Carolina.”

Attorney John Harris was recognized “For Outstanding Business and Community Collaboration to Advance Coastal Stewardship”

Coastal Federation founder and Senior Adviser to the Executive Director Todd Miller, said that Harris began working with the organization in 1997 on the Hoop Pole Creek project in Atlantic Beach. Harris is a partner in the Wyatt, Early, Harris, Wheeler firm’s Morehead City office.

“John’s legal work made it possible for the Coastal Federation to buy out a condominium and marina development and permanently protect 30 acres of rare maritime forests,” Miller said, adding that it was the first property ever purchased in the state using the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund.

“Since then, John has finally helped us conserve nearly 15,000 acres of coastal lands, forests, marshes, creeks, all protected because he made sure every deal was done right,” Miller added.

Harris told the crowd that he was “honored to be able to preserve clean water in our wetlands and to help them purchase land for our grandchildren and generations to come to enjoy what we have Here at the coast.”

The North Carolina Coastal Federation is gearing up for its annual Pelican Awards ceremony and Taste of the Coast Celebration taking place the evening of Sept. 20 in Morehead City.

The Pelican Awards recognize and celebrate the individuals, organizations, businesses and partners who have made significant contributions to the North Carolina coast.

A light wine and cheese social will begin at 5 p.m. followed by the ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Being held at no charge in Joslyn Hall on the campus of Carteret Community College, registration is required because of limited seating.

The 2025 Taste of the Coast Celebration is to follow in the nearby Crystal Coast Civic Center. Doors open at 6 p.m. for drinks on the patio and the celebration starts at 6:30 p.m. where there will be live music, a silent auction, wine, beer and seafood pairings, both raw and steamed oysters, and more.

Attendees can peek at the online auction items using this link before the event.

Tickets, which can be purchased online, are $75 for the organization’s members and $85 for nonmembers.

The Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, is a member-supported nonprofit organization with offices in Wanchese, Newport and Wrightsville Beach that is dedicated to preserving and protecting the state’s coast.

To support either the Pelican Awards or Taste of the Coast as a sponsor, oyster grower, or donate to to the silent auction, contact the Coastal Federation’s Business Engagement Director Catherine Snead at catherines@nccoast.org.

This report has been updated.

Coastal Review has again been recognized for editorial excellence with the North Carolina Press Association announcing its 2025 awards.

The awards were for work published between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025.

Competing in the online-only division, Coastal Review Assistant Editor Jennifer Allen was recognized for legal reporting on coastal issues with a first-place award in The Media and the Law Awards of Excellence category sponsored by the North Carolina Bar Association. According to the association, judges were to look for “insightful coverage of law-related topics that foster greater public understanding of the legal system and the role of lawyers in today’s society.”

Coastal Review staff were recognized with a second-place in the Duke University/Green-Rossiter Award for Distinguished Newspaper Work in Higher Education Reporting. This award was for our university science, researchers and education coverage.

Staff were recognized with a third-place award for Community Coverage.

Assistant Editor Jennifer Allen was recognized with a third-place award for Arts and Entertainment reporting for “African Americans in seafood industry heart of new exhibit.”

Kip Tabb, a Coastal Review correspondent covering Northeastern North Carolina, was recognized with a third-place award in the Religion and Faith category for his feature, “Preserved Skinnersville church bears builders’ handprints.”

Gilbert M. Gaul, another Coastal Review contributor, was recognized with a third-place award for his profile feature, “Coastal geologist Orrin Pilkey, 1934-2024: An appreciation.”

Other awards, including those for general excellence, are to be announced Sept. 18 during the North Carolina Press Association’s annual convention in Cary.

The Nebraska Press Association judged the contest this year.

Coastal Review is an editorially independent news service published daily, Monday through Friday, by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that focuses on protecting and restoring the North Carolina coast.

Many readers know that Coastal Review is published by the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

The nonprofit membership organization established in 1982 focuses on restoring the state’s coastline and advocating for an accessible, healthy, productive coast.

The Coastal Federation launched Coastal Review in February 2012 to fill a gap in coastal environmental reporting that was in decline in traditional media. The award-winning, nonprofit news service is a longtime member of the North Carolina Press Association and publishes Monday through Friday.

One way to support Coastal Review and the organization that publishes it is through this year’s Pelican Awards, which recognizes stewards for their commitment to the coast, and the Taste of the Coast celebration set for Saturday evening in Morehead City.

“These events are incredibly special to us as a way to bring our community together to honor our award winners and to celebrate our spectacular coast,” Development Director Sarah King said in a statement. “We are incredibly grateful to all our sponsors, partners, and friends who make this event, and all our work protecting and restoring the coast, possible.”

This year, 13 Pelican Awards will be presented during the ceremony that begins at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Carteret Community College’s Joslyn Hall. Doors open at 5 p.m. There is no charge to attend, but registration is required because of limited seating.

Following the awards ceremony will be the Taste of the Coast celebration. Treated as a separate event, 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday in the Crystal Coast Civic Center will feature live music, a silent auction, seafood and drink pairings including North Carolina oysters from area oyster growers.

Tickets, available on the website, are $60 for Coastal Federation members and $70 for nonmembers for the celebration. Because the bidding is online for the silent auction, those interested in participating are encouraged to bring their smart phones.

This year’s Pelican Awards and Taste of the Coast Celebration are made possible by leadership support from First Citizens Bank and other important event sponsors.

“First Citizens Bank has partnered with the North Carolina Coastal Federation for many years, and we have witnessed first-hand the impactful work they do. It was the right decision to increase our commitment and become the title sponsor,” said First Citizens Bank Executive Director of Trust and Fiduciary Services Phillip Strickland. “While we have grown from a $50 billion bank to a $200 billion bank within the last 20 months, we will continue making an increased effort in investing in the people and communities we serve.”

Coastal Review has again been recognized for editorial excellence.

The North Carolina Press Association recently announced the results from its annual editorial contest, with Coastal Review taking seven awards in the association’s online-only division for work published between March 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024.

Coastal Review staff won third place in the Community Coverage category. Coastal Review strives to cover all 20 of North Carolina’s coastal counties.

Assistant Editor Jennifer Allen was recognized with a third-place award for Feature Writing for her story, “Ghost forest education focal point of public science project.” Allen also took third in the General News category reporting for her two-part series, “Stripped Away: Wetlands Left Unprotected.”

Editor Mark Hibbs won second place in News Enterprise Reporting for “Deeds filed for Atlantic Beach dunes lead to access dispute.”

Photographer Dylan Ray took first place in the Photo Essay category for “Massachusetts turtles released on NC beach.” And photographer Mark Courtney won second in the same category for his “Ode to the Salt Marsh: Paddling the waters less traveled.”

Capt. Gordon Churchill took first place in the Lighter Columns category for his fishing column, The Angler’s Angle.

The Colorado Press Association judged this year’s contest.

All winners and additional awards, such as those for General Excellence, are to be announced Sept. 19 at the North Carolina Press Association’s annual convention in Raleigh.

The association represents North Carolina newspapers and works to protect the public’s right to know through the defense of open government and First Amendment freedoms.

RALEIGH — Coastal Review was recognized Thursday for its editorial excellence during the North Carolina Press Association’s annual convention. 

In all, Coastal Review received seven awards for reporting and photography during the event at the Hilton Raleigh North Hills. The haul included a second-place award for overall general excellence in the contest’s online-only division.

The contest period covered work published between Oct. 1, 2020, and Feb. 28, 2022. Entries this year were judged by newspaper professionals from the Iowa Newspaper Association.

Association members were honored for excellence in news and advertising coverage during the 149th annual convention. The advertising and editorial contest is one of the largest in the nation with over 4,000 entries submitted by more than 125 newspapers and news organizations. 

The awards included Assistant Editor Jennifer Allen’s first place in breaking news coverage, staff writer Trista Talton’s third place for city and county government reporting, and Editor Mark Hibbs’s first place in general news photography. Coastal Review contributing photographer Dylan Ray received two awards for his work, including a first place in feature photography for a coastal scenic and a third place in general news photography for his coverage of the 2020 election.

Allen’s award was for her story, “EPA to list PFAS as hazardous as part of new approach,” which was published Oct. 19, 2021, and focused on the Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement of a new approach for addressing pollution from toxic “forever chemicals” known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Talton was recognized for, “Brunswick officials’ worries over offshore wind unresolved,” which was published Aug. 19, 2021, and examined how the potential for hundreds of wind turbines had sparked concern over effects on tourism and other factors in the coastal county.

Ray received first place in feature photography and third place in general news photography for his photos, “Foggy Winter Sunset” and “Election Day 2020,” respectively.

Hibbs received a first place in general news photography for “Sunny day flooding, Nov. 8, 2021,” which was published Feb. 24, 2022, to illustrate the story, “New report projects sea levels to rise a foot in 30 years” by Jennifer Allen.

Coastal Review also won third place for appearance and design.

Also among the recognitions Thursday, Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, was presented the association’s William C. Lassiter Award, which is named in honor of the association’s former general counsel and recognizes those who have made significant contributions in support of open government.

Rabon, whose district also includes Bladen, New Hanover and Pender counties, is a veterinarian in Southport and chair of the Senate Rules Committee serving his sixth term in the North Carolina General Assembly. In accepting the award, Rabon said he believed “in the public’s right to know,” in terms of government transparency.

“The commitment is best illustrated by his fierce advocacy for preserving publication of legal notices in newspapers — because of the unmatched reach of the state’s print and digital newspaper publications — and for sponsoring a bill to begin to open government employee disciplinary records,” according to the association. “That legislation, first introduced by Senator Rabon and a small group of other senators in 2010, presents the best chance for NC to join the ranks of 40 other states allowing public access to records of misconduct by government employees at every level of state and local government. He remains determined to see that the legislation passes before he retires.”

Coastal Review has been a member of the North Carolina Press Association since 2015. The association works to protect the public’s right to know through the defense of open government and First Amendment freedoms and helps maintain the public’s access to local, state and federal governments.

Regular readers may have noticed this week that things look a bit different here at CoastalReview.org.

We are excited to announce our first major redesign since launching this site in 2015. The changes are part of an overall effort to better serve our readers, especially mobile users who make up a growing majority of those who visit here. And while you may know us as Coastal Review Online, you also probably knew we were online without having to tell you.

The redesign allows us more flexibility and responsiveness in delivering the news of the North Carolina coast that you have come to expect and trust. In response to your comments and suggestions, we’ve added new or improved functions and are continuing to refine them to make it easier to find stories and information from the recent, or not so recent, past. Other new features are tools we needed to up our game.

After 10 years of coastal environmental reporting and six years since the North Carolina Coastal Federation launched Coastal Review as a freestanding, daily, online coastal news site, our readership continues to grow, and by larger margins each year.

There is clearly a lot of interest in news about North Carolina’s coastal region and this should come as no surprise. The 20 counties we cover are environmental treasures that are rich in abundance, ecological diversity and scenic splendor, with fascinating people and culture.

The region’s place in history is well known as a setting for early European exploration, the beginnings of a nation, and home to significant events and important people in the centuries that followed. It’s also a lesson on how life here has for thousands of years depended on the water that surrounds us.

These waters — the ocean as well as creeks, rivers, marshes and sounds — are the foundation of much of eastern North Carolina’s economy. Water is the draw for millions of visitors each year who spend billions of dollars in coastal counties.

“Tourists have discovered the unspoiled natural beauty and relative lack of congestion in the region’s beach areas,” says the NC East Alliance, an economic development organization for eastern North Carolina.

While the region has long been a popular tourist destination, North Carolina’s 20 Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, counties are also home to more than 1.06 million people, ranging from just under 5,000 residents in Hyde County to more than 234,000 in New Hanover County.

It may go without saying that no two are alike, but even neighboring counties can be vastly different. The North Carolina Rural Center ranks all but one coastal county, New Hanover, as rural, or having fewer than 250 people per square mile. While some counties are rapidly growing, others are seeing flat growth or slight declines in their population. But in each county, coastal waters play a significant role in the sense of place, quality of life and cultural identity.

The health of North Carolina’s seafood industry and the state’s significant recreational fishing-related economy depends on protecting the water around us. Fishing and hunting are a big part of coastal culture, especially in smaller communities.

Coastal wetlands and sounds not only are habitat for highly coveted fish and shellfish, but they also serve as a shock absorber, absorbing some of the brunt of coastal storms. Wetlands serve as an indicator of changes, such as those associated with sea level rise and rising ocean temperatures. In addition, our coastal waters are a laboratory for researchers in a variety of fields.

The North Carolina coast has been for more than a century a hub for scientific research. It’s home to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Beaufort Laboratory and the Duke University Marine Lab, both in Beaufort; the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences and the North Carolina State University Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, both in Morehead City; the East Carolina University Coastal Studies Institute in Wanchese; and the University of North Carolina Wilmington Center for Marine Science in Wilmington.

The research and findings at these institutions are often groundbreaking, sometimes with worldwide implications and recognition, and often the language is highly technical. Much of our science reporting is tied to issues related to pollution or contaminants and public health and sometimes these studies are mandated by the legislature.

We try to make science and the exacting but sometimes purposely vague language of legislation accessible to ordinary people. We strive to present in-depth reporting on topics that are often ignored, glossed over or delivered elsewhere without context or history.

We keep in mind that people too are part of the environment. Their well-being, ingenuity and perseverance are at the center of our environmental reporting.

Coastal communities are making new investments in protecting, conserving, celebrating and capitalizing on their resources because it makes sense for the environment and the economy, and it benefits people who live here.

Although our coverage focuses on issues that matter most to coastal residents, our audience, according to Google Analytics, is much more widespread, with significant numbers of readers in Raleigh, Atlanta — the location of Environmental Protection Agency’s Southeast regional headquarters — and Washington, D.C., in addition to the coast. This fact strengthens our resolve to clearly communicate coastal issues not just for the folks on the coast but also for key decision makers at the state and federal levels.

Our name, “Coastal Review,” dates back to the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s earliest days and a twice-yearly newspaper-form newsletter first published in August 1983 with a $5 per year subscription rate that covered environmental threats, water quality issues, legislative news and coastal residents — not unlike the coverage we now strive to deliver each day, Monday through Friday, at no cost to readers.

Then and now, North Carolina Coastal Federation Executive Director Todd Miller’s approach has been one of informing rather than trying to persuade. “People need to think for themselves based upon good, factual information,” he says.

Todd and Frank Tursi, a former environmental reporter at the Winston-Salem Journal before taking the helm of the federation’s Coastkeeper program, created Coastal Review Online in 2012 as part of the federation’s website, nccoast.org, and launched the freestanding news website at coastalreview.org in 2015. It was, “an act of desperation,” as Frank put it in 2016.

“Environmental groups depend on good journalism to educate people about the complicated science and policy issues that they often tackle. But decades of wilting revenue and falling readership had decimated daily newspapers, which reduced staff and cut coverage in response. Environmental journalism was a casualty,” Frank noted at the time.

Although published by an advocacy organization, we work hard to deliver unbiased, objective reporting and editorial decisions are made independently from the publisher and any other persons or interests.

With a full-time staff of two, we rely largely on freelance reporters, mostly veteran newspaper journalists who know the region and issues that matter. Our work has helped us grow our audience to more than three-quarters of a million readers during the past year alone, with more than 1.2 million pages viewed.

Since being accepted as a member of the North Carolina Press Association in 2015, our work has garnered more than 100 awards, including a first-place Public Service Award for 2020 presented earlier this year. We want to continue growing and improving to better serve the communities we cover.

Coastal Review is not supported by paid subscriptions or advertising. Our continued work to report the news of the North Carolina coast depends on your help. So, we’re offering new ways to make it easier for you to support our work through donations, sponsorships and gifts. Visit coastalreview.org/support to learn more. Our publisher’s financial health, accountability and transparency have earned it a perfect score with Charity Navigator. Fewer than 1% of the thousands of charities rated by Charity Navigator have earned perfect scores.

We extend our utmost appreciation to our website designer and technical guru Sara Birkemeier of 8dot Graphics LLC for her extensive work during the past few months, weeks and days to incorporate our ideas, suggest things we hadn’t considered and make this redesign as seamless as possible for Coastal Review staff. She lived up to her company’s slogan in making us “shine.”

Also, we thank our publishing partners who reprint our stories and share theirs with us to keep coastal residents informed. We’ve added a new feature on each story page so that publishers who wish to share our work with their readers may do so with all the proper attribution and contact information readily available, and to help us track our reach.

Just one more thing: Astute regular readers may have noticed at the top of our pages a new logo, which not only states who we are but also where we are, right here at CoastalReview.org. So, please suggest us to anyone who may have an interest in the news of the coast and tell them where to go. And while the moniker Coastal Review Online is a thing of the past, you can still call us “CRO.” We don’t mind a bit.

The North Carolina Press Association recognized Coastal Review Online Friday with nine awards, including a first-place award for public service and a second-place award for general excellence.

The nonprofit association announced the awards during the news, editorial and photojournalism contest awards ceremony that was part of its annual convention, which was held virtually this year because of COVID-19 restrictions, rather than the in-person event typically held in Raleigh or Chapel Hill. Awards were presented to newspaper and online journalists from across the state. Shannon Vickery, director of sponsorships at UNC-TV, hosted the awards presentation video.

Coastal Review Online staff, reporters and photographers competed in the online-only division of the association’s annual competition. This year’s entries were judged by the West Virginia Press Association. The contest was for stories and photography published between Oct. 1, 2019, and Sept. 30, 2020.

Among the awards for the nonprofit news publication’s work were four first-place awards, including the Public Service Award for the Changing Minds on Climate Science series. The multipart series was supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting as part of its Connected Coastlines nationwide climate reporting initiative.

The series examines how attitudes toward climate science have evolved during the past decade among people who call eastern North Carolina home and the lives affected by storms scientists say were made more severe by the warming atmosphere. The reports bring into perspective the recent pattern of record-breaking hurricanes, Matthew, Florence and Dorian, and the lives affected, along with other changes, such as saltwater intrusion, sunny-day flooding, economic disruption and soaring infrastructure costs. The series also examines the government response, particularly at the state and local levels.

Staff also received the first-place award for appearance and design and second-place awards for community coverage and general excellence, behind Bladen Online and Carolina Public Press, respectively. Coastal Review was also recognized with a third-place award for general excellence for websites, behind the Ocracoke Observer and Carolina Public Press.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation launched Coastal Review Online in 2012 in response to declining media coverage of coastal environmental news in North Carolina.

“Here at the Coastal Federation we’re extremely proud of the work and reach of our staff and writers who produce Coastal Review Online,” said Todd Miller, the federation’s executive director. “Last year our award-winning reporting reached over 750,000 viewers, and we keep coastal residents and visitors informed about the wonders and needs of our spectacular coastline.”

The daily news service employs two full-time staff with freelance contributors covering the North Carolina coast, its environment, culture and history, and the issues that affect its residents.

“I’m proud that our team has been recognized by our peers for their hard work and solid journalism,” said Coastal Review Online Editor Mark Hibbs. “And there’s no greater honor than having our work judged a service to the coastal communities we cover. It’s why we do this.”

Jennifer Allen won first place in investigative reporting on a special report on COVID-19 and the Waste Stream. The series looks at how the measures put in place in March to curb the spread of COVID-19 changed how North Carolinians consume and dispose of waste. The first in a series details how Ocean Friendly Establishments coordinators continue to encourage using reusables safely when possible. The second hears how cleanup organizers, who have noticed an increase in COVID-19 related litter, adjusted to coronavirus precautions in order to continue to combat debris. The third covers the changes waste and recycling organization representatives have seen in what and how residential customers are recycling since the stay-at-home order was put in place this March. The report also examines how educational institutions and environmental organizations are working amid the restrictions.

Judges said of the series, “Very enlightening on how COVID-19 harms in other ways by adding to pollution. It enlightens citizens how their habits can either contribute to the country’s waste problem or help alleviate it and shows how restaurants have to decide if they can remain eco-conscious and profitable at the same time. Good angle at the COVID-19 problem.”

Hibbs was recognized with the Media and the Law Awards of Excellence sponsored by North Carolina Bar Association for a series of stories on private property rights versus North Carolina’s coastal regulatory authority. This award recognizes outstanding coverage of law-related topics “that foster greater public understanding of the legal system and the role of lawyers in today’s society.” Only one of these awards was presented in each division.

Hibbs also won a second-place award for headline writing.

Jared Lloyd received a second-place award for spot photography for his images from a November 2019 nor’easter.

The association is a member-owned and operated nonprofit group established in 1873 that works to protect the people’s right to know through the defense of open government and First Amendment freedoms and advocates for public access to local, state and federal governments. Members include daily and community newspapers and special interest publications; online news publications; those who provide equipment, supplies, growth opportunities and materials to the industry; and those who generally support newspaper interests. It is the only newspaper industry trade group in the state.

Coastal Review Online has been a member of the North Carolina Press Association since 2013.

RALEIGH – Coastal Review Online staff and reporters received Thursday 12 awards in the online-only division for news coverage at the annual North Carolina Press Association banquet.

The nonprofit news publication’s staff and reporters joined editors, freelancers and supporters from newspapers and publications across the state at the news, editorial and photojournalism contest awards ceremony that is part of the association’s annual convention at the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley.

Among the awards for Coastal Review Online’s news coverage published from Oct. 1, 2018, to Sept. 30, 2019, were seven first-place awards, one second-place award and three third-place awards. CRO also took home a third-place award for general excellence among online-only publications.

“I’m proud of the work our team has done to earn these awards,” said Coastal Review Online Editor Mark Hibbs. “We appreciate the recognition, as well as the support of our steadily increasing number of readers, which together encourage us to keep working harder to cover North Carolina’s important coastal issues.”

A member of the state press association since 2013, Coastal Review Online is published Monday through Friday. The North Carolina Coastal Federation launched the nonprofit news service in February 2012 to provide coverage of issues relevant to the people, culture, history and environment of the North Carolina coast.

A member-owned and operated nonprofit group, the North Carolina Press Association was established to protect First Amendment freedoms, promote the business interests of North Carolina newspapers and maintain high standards in the industry. The editorial contest is open to any North Carolina newspaper or online news site that is a member of the association.

Members include daily and community newspapers and special interest publications; online news publications; those who provide equipment, supplies, growth opportunities and materials to the industry; and those who generally support newspaper interests. It is the only newspaper industry trade group in the state.

The association’s winter convention typically includes guest speakers and education sessions for journalists, such as information on open government and laws pertaining to public records and media.

Coastal Review Online reporters earned awards in the following categories:

First Place

• Staff, Appearance and Design, Hurricane Dorian’s approach
• Jennifer Allen, Arts and Entertainment Reporting, “Jazz Fest Marks 10th Year With State Support.”
• Catherine Kozak, City, County Government Reporting, “Confrontation Stirs Beach Access Debate.“
• Sam Bland, Lighter Columns, Sam’s Field Notes, multiple entries
• Jennifer Allen, Multimedia Project, “Regan: Dorian Highlights Need for Resilience.”
• Trista Talton, Beat Feature Reporting, “Vibrio Survivor, Wife Warn of Bacteria’s Risks.”
• Mark Hibbs, News Feature Writing, “The Case of the Conserved Land” multiple entries
  • “Landowner Challenges Conservation Terms“
  • “AG’s Office Intervenes in Conservation Case“
  • “Judge Allows AG to Intervene in Land Dispute“

Second Place

• Jennifer Allen, Arts and Entertainment Reporting, “Plymouth Set to Celebrate Black Bears.”

Third Place

• Jennifer Allen, Beat News Reporting, “Displaced, Derelict and Abandoned” multiple entries
• Catherine Kozak, Profile Feature,” Retired Outer Banks Historian Tells His Story.”
• Staff, Use of Social Media, Facebook and Twitter

The Pulitzer Center has selected Coastal Review Online as one of its 2019 Connected Coastlines grantees, a consortium of newsrooms and independent journalists across the country who are using rigorous science reporting to document and explain the local effects of climate change on U.S. coastal populations.

Connected Coastlines aims to increase awareness of the underlying causes and effects of climate change in communities already experiencing altered weather, increased flooding and unpredictable temperature patterns.

Editor Mark Hibbs and a team of reporters for Coastal Review Online will report on climate research about North Carolina and gauge the prevalence of anti-science beliefs, climate denialism and other obstacles to addressing climate changes that are affecting coastal North Carolina residents.

This is one of 16 reporting projects that will be published or broadcast by at least 35 news outlets nationwide focusing on the consequences of climate change in every coastal region in the country—the East Coast, the West Coast, the Great Lakes, the Gulf Coast, Alaska and Hawaii.

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is an award-winning nonprofit journalism organization dedicated to supporting in-depth reporting and public engagement with under-reported global and local issues. The Pulitzer Center initiative is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education.

The Pulitzer Center awarded funding for original reporting across all media — television, radio, print, multimedia, online, photography and data journalism and will support educational outreach programs to bring that reporting on climate change to local schools and community forums. In addition to Coastal Review Online on the East Coast, the following projects were chosen from scores of applicants:

East Coast

David Abel will report on the effect of warming waters on the endangered North Atlantic right whales for both a feature-length documentary and The Boston Globe.

Nestor Ramos, Anush Elbakyan, John Tlumacki and a team of journalists at The Boston Globe have produced a major multimedia project examining the effects of climate change on Cape Cod’s wildlife, shoreline, property, fishing industry and other livelihoods. The Pulitzer Center created a free curriculum for K-12 schools based on the reporting and is partnering with The Globe on community forums in Boston and on the Cape featuring reporters, scientists, and students.

Climate Central’s John Upton will direct a project about New York City residents using natural solutions to adapt to climate change. This project will feature reporting by Gothamist/WNYC’s Clarisa Diaz and The Guardian’s Oliver Milman, along with public outreach and educational programs and materials developed by Columbia University’s Earth Institute.

Author and journalist Andrew Lewis will report on at-risk New Jersey Shore communities for The New York Times Magazine.

Emily Jones of Georgia Public Broadcasting and Mary Landers of Savannah Morning News will investigate how climate change threatens septic and sewer systems in Georgia.

A Florida-wide team of journalists led by Bill Varian at the Tampa Bay Times and Curtis Morgan at The Miami Herald will produce two long-term projects: they will study which Florida communities and places are most at risk from rising sea levels and they will use scientific data sets and collaborate with researchers to create a statewide climate assessment report. The stories will be reported and published by members of the Florida Climate Reporting Network, a consortium of newsrooms that also includes The Bradenton Herald, Center for Investigative Reporting, Centro, The Daytona Beach News Journal, InsideClimate News, El Nuevo Herald, Orlando Sentinel, The Palm Beach Post, PolitiFact, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, El Sentinel, South Florida Sun Sentinel, and public media stations WUSF, WJCT, WLRN.

Gulf Coast

Alexander Rozier will investigate the impact of increased flooding and spillway openings on the Mississippi Sound for Mississippi Today.

Tristan Baurick of The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate and Tegan Wendland of New Orleans NPR station WWNO will investigate how the Netherlands’ floodplain and storm adaptation strategies could be a model for the Louisiana coast.

Great Lakes

Jonathan Kealing of the Institute for Nonprofit News will lead a coalition of small newsrooms that will report on climate migration to the Great Lakes. The participating newsrooms include Belt Magazine, Detroit Public Television, Investigative Post, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, and WFYI-FM.

Thomas Briscoe will report on climate threats to industry and ecology in the Great Lakes for the Chicago Tribune.

West Coast

Henry Phillip Bernton has published the first of his stories for “After the Ice,” a series on the impact of climate change on fisheries from Washington state to Alaska in a series for The Seattle Times.

Lauren Sommer, Kevin Stark, and KQED Science will report on rising Pacific sea levels and the struggle to protect vulnerable land and people in the San Francisco Bay Area

Journalist and author Michaela Haas will report on battles between wealthy landowners and conservationists over how to save Malibu, one of California’s most famous beach communities.

Alaska & Hawaii

Jenna Kunze will report on how Alaska Natives in the far north are facing climate change, in collaboration with Alice Qannik Glenn for Coffee and Quaq, a podcast that serves millennial Native Alaskans.

Nathan Eagle will report on the health of Hawaiian watersheds for Honolulu Civil Beat.

The Pulitzer Center is also developing a Connected Coastlines website that will showcase the coast-to-coast reporting and scientific research on which it draws. The website is being designed to use scientific data to link coastal communities facing similar challenges due to a changing climate. The projects will be published in the outlets mentioned, and will be shared widely through social media, classroom curriculum and outreach programs to engage local audiences in discussions about climate.

RALEIGH – Journalists, editors, freelancers and supporters from newspapers and publications across the state gathered Thursday for the annual North Carolina Press Association banquet, where Coastal Review Online won 26 awards for news coverage during 2018, including the first-place award for general excellence among online-only publications.

Second place in General Excellence went to North Carolina Policy Watch and Carolina Public Press received third.

The news, editorial and photojournalism contest awards ceremony is a part of the association’s annual convention held at the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley.

Coastal Review Online staff, reporters and photographers competed in the online-only division of the association’s annual competition. Among the awards for the nonprofit news publication’s work were eight first-place awards, including best news coverage, plus nine second-place awards and eight third-place awards.

The New Jersey Press Association judged this year’s contest entries.

“It’s an honor to be recognized by our peers in New Jersey for our reporting on North Carolina’s coastal environmental issues,” said Coastal Review Online Editor Mark Hibbs. “I’m proud of our team and the work they have produced during the past year. We’re a small team with 20 counties and 300 miles of coastline to cover, but this recognition shows what a handful of folks who are passionate about their work can do and the foresight our publisher Todd Miller had in launching CRO.”

The contest period was for work published between Oct. 1, 2017, and Sept. 30, 2018.

Coastal Review Online, a member of the state press association since 2013, is published Monday through Friday. The North Carolina Coastal Federation launched the nonprofit news service in February 2012 to provide coverage of issues relevant to the people, culture, history and environment of the North Carolina coast.

A member-owned and operated nonprofit group, the association was established to protect First Amendment freedoms, promote the business interests of North Carolina newspapers and maintain high standards in the industry.

Members include daily and community newspapers and special interest publications; online news publications; those who provide equipment, supplies, growth opportunities and materials to the industry; and those who generally support newspaper interests. It is the only newspaper industry trade group in the state.

The association’s winter convention typically includes guest speakers and education sessions for journalists, such as information on open government and laws pertaining to public records and media. The editorial contest is open to any North Carolina newspaper or online news site that is a member of the association.

Coastal Review Online earned awards in a range of categories, including breaking news coverage, in-depth government reporting, feature writing, photography and columns.

The following is a list of winners, and their respective categories:

First Place

•  Staff, News Coverage
• Catherine Kozak, News Enterprise Reporting, sea level rise and the North Carolina coast, multiple entries.
  • “Rising Sea Levels Complicate Flooding Issues“
  • “Rising Seas: Park Managers Are Taking Heed“
  • “Rising Seas Threaten $4 Billion in NC Property“
• Kirk Ross, Online Breaking News Coverage, “‘Don’t Drill!’ Reverberates in Raleigh.”
• Kathleen Onorevole, Best Lede, multiple entries
  • “Shad in the Classroom Boosts Recovery Effort“
  • “Study: Stormwater Ponds Can Add Nitrogen“
  • “New Tool Makes Oyster Restoration Easier“
• Jennifer Allen, Feature Writing, “Deserted Island Village to Come Alive Again.”
• Sam Bland, Lighter Columns, multiple entries
• Mark Hibbs, Feature Photography, “New Neighbors: American Robins.”
• Jennifer Allen, Profile Feature, “Paula Gillikin Keeps Watch Over Wild Horses.“

Second Place

• Jennifer Allen, Arts and Entertainment Reporting, “‘Rising’ Exhibit Documents Coastal Change.”
• Kirk Ross, News Enterprise Reporting, North Carolina Policy Collaboratory series
  • “Policy Collaboratory Moves Into New Phase“
  • “Collaboratory Studies: Better GenX Detection“
• Jennifer Allen, Online Breaking News Coverage, “Cooper Promises Lawsuit Over Exemption.”
• Kathleen Onorevole, Best Multimedia Project, “Study: Nesting Turtles Prefer Dark Beaches.”
• Allison Ballard, City County Government Reporting, “Shallotte Officials Update Riverfront Plan.”
• Kip Tabb, Feature Writing, “Our Coast’s History: NC’s Oyster War.”
• Catherine Kozak, General News Reporting, “Gator Sparks Interest As State OKs Hunting.”
• Mark Hibbs, Headline Writing, multiple entries
  • “GenX Wake-up Call, Legislative Snooze Button“
  • “Offensive Fence Gone at Carolina Beach Park“
  • “Hush Puppies Have Strayed Far From Coast“
• Liz Biro, Lighter Columns, multiple entries

Third Place

• Kathleen Onorevole, Beat Feature Reporting, “Study: Corals Prefer the Taste of Plastic.”
• Catherine Kozak, Online Breaking News Coverage, “Proposed Rule Would Allow Red Wolf Takes.”
• Catherine Kozak, Best Lede, multiple entries
  • “Palmetto-Peartree Preserve to Change Hands“
  • “NPS Removes Asphalt from Hatteras Beach“
  • “Hyde County Adopts Derelict Vessel Rule“
• Allison Ballard, Best Multimedia Project, “Historic Wrightsville Beach Cottage.”
• Jennifer Allen, City County Government Reporting, Beaufort Harbor management series
  • “Officials Look to Clean Up Taylor’s Creek“
  • “Beaufort Hears Public Concerns Over Harbor“
• Jared Lloyd, Lighter Columns, multiple entries
• Mark Hibbs, feature photography, “The Buzz on Pollinator Week.”
• Kip Tabb, Profile Feature,”Our Coast’s People: Nathan Richards.”

Learn More

• North Carolina Press Association contest

RALEIGH – Coastal Review Online won a dozen awards Thursday from the North Carolina Press Association for news coverage during 2017.

The association announced the awards during the news, editorial and photojournalism contest awards ceremony that was part of its annual convention held this year at the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley. Awards were presented to newspaper and online journalists from across the state.

Coastal Review Online staff, reporters and photographers competed in the online-only division of the association’s annual competition. Among the awards for the nonprofit news publication’s work were six first-place awards, including one for best use of multimedia.

“Winning awards for our use of multimedia is especially encouraging because we are trying to maximize the potential of our digital platform, but we’re also excited just to be recognized among our peers for good old-fashioned reporting,” said Coastal Review Online Editor Mark Hibbs. “Nearly all of our reporters are newspaper veterans and it’s their experience and professionalism that have built CRO’s reputation for quality and credible news coverage.”

The team also received two second-place awards and four third-place awards. The contest period was for stories published between Oct. 1, 2016, and Sept. 30, 2017.

Coastal Review Online is published daily, Monday-Friday. The North Carolina Coastal Federation launched the nonprofit news service in February 2012 to provide coverage of issues relevant to the people, culture, history and environment of the North Carolina coast.

Coastal Review Online has been a member of the North Carolina Press Association since 2013.

The association is a member-owned and operated nonprofit group established to protect First Amendment freedoms, promote the business interests of North Carolina newspapers and maintain high standards in the industry. Members include daily and community newspapers and special interest publications; online news publications; those who provide equipment, supplies, growth opportunities and materials to the industry; and those who generally support newspaper interests. It is the only newspaper industry trade group in the state.

The association’s winter convention typically includes guest speakers and education sessions for journalists, such as information on open government and laws pertaining to public records and media. The editorial contest is open to any North Carolina newspaper or online news site that is a member of the association. The Hoosier State Press Association judged this year’s contest entries.

Coastal Review Online earned awards in a variety of categories, including breaking news coverage, in-depth government reporting, feature writing and columns.

Staff took home a first-place award for online breaking news coverage during and immediately after Hurricane Matthew struck the North Carolina coast in October 2016. Reporting included regular updates on conditions, flooding, damage and the emergency response up and down the coast and tracking coordinates during the weekend storm, which was blamed for nine deaths in the state, and a detailed report with photos on that Monday morning when Matthew turned away from the Outer Banks and headed out to sea.

Coverage of Hurricane Matthew’s aftermath also included a front-page featured photo of the damage to a portion of N.C. Highway 12 on the Outer Banks. That image, captured by Kip Tabb, earned a first-place award for spot news photography.

Kirk Ross and Trista Talton took home awards for their election/political reporting and city/county government reporting, respectively.

Ross’ report focused on a proposed change to state environmental rules that would have reclassified about 12 miles of the lower Cape Fear River as “swamp water,” thereby lowering the water quality standards and reducing requirements on local businesses and governments with discharge permits. A state legislator opposed to the reclassification called the idea “intellectually dishonest.”

Talton’s series of news reports articles arising from a dispute in Topsail Beach, North Carolina, regarding a development rule intended to protect vulnerable sand dunes. A handful of property owners frustrated that the restrictions prohibited development of their parcels faced off against others who feared that altering the dunes would weaken them, creating increased flooding threat to their homes.

Talton’s series included the following:

• “Plan Pitched to Allow Homes, Protect Dunes”
• “Property Owners Divided Over Dune Rule”
• “Topsail Beach Repeals Dune Ordinance”
• “Judge Halts Topsail Beach Building Permits”
• “Judge Dismisses Topsail Dune Rule Case”
• “Topsail Dune Rule: Is Legislative Fix Possible?”

A legislative provision aimed at resolving the dispute was part of House Bill 56, which ultimately cleared the legislature, was vetoed by the governor but then became law when the General Assembly overrode the veto.

Here is the full list of winners and their respective categories:

First Place

• Staff, Online Breaking News Coverage: “Matthew Exits, Record Flooding Continues.”
• Trista Talton and Mark Hibbs, Best Multimedia Project: “Catching Waves to Save Historic Shoreline.”
• Sam Bland, Feature Writing, “Sam’s Field Notes: The Polar Bear Connection.”
• Kip Tabb, Spot Photography, “Part of N.C. 12 in Kitty Hawk Washed Out.”
• Jared Lloyd, Lighter Columns, multiple entries.
• Mark Hibbs, Headline Writing, multiple entries.

Second Place

• Jennifer Allen, Mark Hibbs, Best Multimedia Project, “Our Coast’s History: JFK’s Visit, 55 Years Later.”
• Jennifer Allen, Feature Writing, “Stewards Aim to Protect Beach-Nesting Birds.”

Third Place

• Kirk Ross, Election/Political Reporting, “Cape Fear Pollution Fix: Call It a ‘Swamp?’”
• Jennifer Allen, Beat News Reporting, “New Seismic Permitting Process Begins.”
• Trista Talton, City/County Government Reporting, multiple entries covering Topsail Beach’s battle over dune-protection issues.
• Sam Bland, Lighter Columns, multiple entries.

Learn More

• North Carolina Press Association contest

RALEIGH – Coastal Review Online received 14 awards Thursday from the North Carolina Press Association for our news coverage and photography of the state’s coastal environmental issues. Included was a third-place award among online-only publications for general excellence.

The winners were announced during the news, editorial and photojournalism contest awards ceremony that was part of the association’s annual Winter Institute, a conference held this year at the Sheraton Raleigh Hotel in the state’s capital.

CRO writers and photographers competed against others across the state for the second year in the online-only division of the association’s annual competition. Among the awards for the nonprofit news publication’s work were seven first-place awards, including one for overall design. CRO, which is published daily, Monday-Friday, by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, also received two second-place awards and three third-place awards.

More than 100 news organizations participated in this year’s awards, submitting a total of about 3,900 entries. Judges from press associations in New York, Pennsylvania and Minnesota decided on the winning entries.

Sandra Hurley, a senior vice president of sales and marketing of Civitas Media and presenter at the ceremony, said the four competing online publications were held to the highest standards.

She added during the ceremony that the judges for the category were “were surprised with the talent they found in North Carolina.”

North Carolina Health News took home the number one spot for general excellence in the online category, while North Carolina Policy Watch came away with second.

The association is a member-owned and operated nonprofit group established to protect First Amendment freedoms, promote the business interests of North Carolina newspapers and maintain high standards in the industry. Members include daily and community newspapers and special interest publications; online news publications; those who provide equipment, supplies, growth opportunities and materials to the industry; and those who generally support newspaper interests. It is the only newspaper industry trade group in the state.

CRO has been an association member since 2013.

The honors recognized the CRO team’s work covering the North Carolina coast’s environmental issues, history and culture. Contest entries are judged by members of other states’ press associations.

“This kind of recognition among our peers for what is still a relatively new model for delivering news content is encouraging,” said CRO editor Mark Hibbs. “I’m proud of our team, which is mostly freelancers with years of experience in newspaper reporting, and the quality journalism each of our reporters produce. Many of our talented writers have been with CRO since its beginning.”

The Coastal Federation launched CRO in February 2012 as an experiment to fill the gap in the coverage of coastal environmental issues created by downsizing in the traditional media.

“CRO follows accepted journalistic principles of fairness and balance and, although we have an advocacy organization as our publisher, our team always strives for unbiased, accurate reporting,” Hibbs said.

As CRO founding editor Frank Tursi noted following the press association awards last year, “At CRO we still cling to the old-fashioned notion that if you give them all the facts, readers are smart enough to come to their own conclusions.”

Among the honors were two awards for both Sam Bland and Jared Lloyd for their photography and articles on coastal life and nature. This included two first-place awards to Lloyd for photography and feature reporting.

Hibbs received a first-place award for his three-part special report exploring the Brunswick County town of Navassa’s long history of industrial pollution, how it has affected town residents and what the future may hold as the contamination is addressed.

First-place awards also went to CRO reporters Catherine Kozak in the category of general news reporting; Brad Rich for feature writing; and Trista Talton for city/county government reporting.

CRO’s breaking-news coverage of the North Carolina General Assembly’s creation of an environmental policy center at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill was also recognized, with writer Kirk Ross receiving a third-place award for his work.

Here is the full list of winners and their respective categories:

First Place

• Design-online members only, staff
• Catfish Blues: Rule Threaten Native Species, general news reporting, Catherine Kozak
• ‘Sad’ Little Boat Tells Story of Courage, feature writing, Brad Rich
• Navassa: A Century of Contamination, news enterprise reporting, Mark Hibbs
• Great egret at Rachel Carson Reserve, photography, feature, Jared Lloyd
• Terminal Groins: Easement Needed, city/county government reporting, Trista Talton
• The Ocean: Calming a Stormy Mind, beat feature reporting, Jared Lloyd

Second Place

• Critics Charge an Ill Wind Blows From Raleigh, city/county government reporting, Catherine Kozak
• Coastal Sketch: The Oyster Ladies of Ocracoke, profile feature, Pat Garber
• Nap Time, photography, feature, Sam Bland

Third Place

• General excellence, online members only
• Small Polluters Could Get Pass, general news reporting, Lisa Sorg
• Sam’s Field Notes: Painted Buntings, photography, feature, Sam Bland
• Lawmakers Fund New UNC Policy Center, city/county government reporting, Kirk Ross

There’s a new guy in charge here at Coastal Review Online. Mark Hibbs, a longtime community journalist and CRO’s assistant editor since June 2015, takes the helm today as I prepare for my retirement after almost four decades in journalism.

A native of Carteret County, Mark worked for more than 20 years with the Carteret County News-Times, a tri-weekly newspaper in Morehead City. He wore a lot of hats there — staff writer, photographer, business editor and assistant to the editor – and won numerous journalism awards for his reporting. He’s a solid journalist and a good fella.

I’ll be around for a bit longer, spending the last few months of the year reporting and writing a special series on the state of the coast’s environment that will run in CRO next year. I’ll retire on Dec. 31.

Walking away hasn’t been easy, but I’m comforted knowing that the experiment we started four years ago is a success and that CRO is in good shape and in good hands.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation in 2012 launched the daily news service to cover coastal environmental issues. It was, frankly, an act of desperation. Environmental groups depend on good journalism to educate people about the complicated science and policy issues that they often tackle. But decades of wilting revenue and falling readership had decimated daily newspapers, which reduced staff and cut coverage in response. Environmental journalism was a casualty.

As a longtime environmental reporter, I knew my time was about up in 2002. I voluntarily left the Winston-Salem Journal after more than 30 years in newspaper newsrooms to take the job heading the Coastkeeper program here at the federation. There had once been as many as six reporters in the state whose full-time jobs were to cover environmental issues. There were four when I left. Now, there is one.  Much of the coast — indeed much of the state — is no longer within the beat of the last remaining environmental reporter.

We intended for the news service to fill that gap. I docked my Coastkeeper boat and took over as editor. Though I enjoyed my gig as an environmental watchdog, I’m a newsman. When the time comes, I hope they put that in my obituary. It felt good to be back home, even though my “newsroom” consisted of a single office and a computer, some software and freelancers for reporters.

Something else was different this time around: Our publisher was an advocacy group. Could a news service owned by the most-prominent environmental group on the coast produce credible journalism? No one knew because no one had tried it before. We made the rules as we went along.

The first rule, though, was simple and immutable: We would adhere to the strictest journalistic standards of fairness and balance. I told our writers, many of whom are former newspaper reporters, that we weren’t interested in one-side stories, even if that side was the publisher’s. In a media world dominated by Fox News, MSNBC, “news” websites of suspect origins and ideological screech radio, we still cling to the quaint notion that if you give them the facts most people will come to the right conclusions. Call me a romantic in that regard.

To provide a bit more separation between the federation and CRO, the news service launched this website in February 2015. Until then, it had been a feature of the federation’s site.

We did good journalism and even had some real scoops. Our inaugural story, a profile of Marc Basnight, made headlines across the state by revealing that the former state senator and once one of the most powerful political figures in the state was suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Our story about the state legislature’s attempt to ban planning for sea-level rise reverberated around the world. Stephen Colbert had fun with it, and King Canute made a brief resurgence.

Still, the Board of Directors of the N.C. Press Association, the state’s only trade organization for journalists, was rightly suspicious when CRO applied for membership in 2013. The association is made up mostly of newspapers and TV and radio stations, all reliable members of the Fourth Estate. A digital newspaper published by an environmental advocacy group? Heresy.

We had several hundred stories in our archives by then. I asked the board members to judge us not by our publisher but by what we’ve published. They voted unanimously to let us in.

It turned out all right. The association last year recognized our work with 22 journalism awards for reporting and photography. Included in that total were first-place awards for the most extensive examination of offshore drilling published in the state – more than 40 stories run out over two months.

CRO also caught the attention of the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, which last year gave us a prestigious Governor’s Conservation Achievement Award for our environmental journalism.

We had arrived.

And readers began finding us. We started with a handful of visitors to the website, literally a couple of dozen a day. I had always feared that I probably accounted for half that traffic as I went back and forth to the site constantly. Today, more than 20,000 people read CRO every month. They’ve viewed more than a half-million pages. Almost 3,000 people receive our daily email, and a phone and tablet app is in the works.

None of this came cheaply. CRO is a nonprofit news service, one of only two in the state. We don’t sell ads or charge for subscriptions. But every story you see costs about $200. We wouldn’t have survived this long without the good people at the Park, Campbell and Z. Smith Reynolds foundations and without Fred and Alice Stanback of Salisbury. They took a chance on an unproven journalism model. I hope they now think their faith was well placed.

Any news organization is only as good as its reporters. The freelancers who are the core of our reporting staff have been with us from the beginning. Trista Talton, Cate Kozak, Brad Rich, Kirk Ross and Liz Biro stuck with us, even when the pay was meager, because they believed in what we were trying to do. Like all good reporters, each was always willing to do what it took to get the story. They even made their deadlines … most of the time.

The staff here also deserves mention. Though CRO is the odd duck around here, my colleagues have always supported what we were trying to accomplish. Many of them even became good news hounds and passed along ideas that became good stories. Thank you.

A special thanks to the boss. CRO would not have been possible without Todd Miller’s unfailing support and encouragement. He understood the need to allow CRO to establish its journalistic independence if the news service was to succeed. He rarely interfered and put up with my occasional cantankerousness. And like a good publisher he got out of the way and let us do our job.

I started my career many years ago in dingy newsrooms that could have been the sets used in “It Happened One Night,” the classic 1930’s newspaper movie. There, some of the most profound and profane people I would ever know banged out copy on manual Remington typewriters and reached into desk drawers for the occasional shot of 90-proof inspiration. The walls, stained a grimy yellow from decades of tobacco smoke, vibrated when the presses in the basement rumbled to life each night for the first edition. It would be delivered to our desks a short time later still moist and warm to the touch.

I end that career sitting here in front of a computer screen, sending email to reporters a hundred miles away. A mere push of a button will transport this copy out to thousands of readers.

It’s been a helluva story. But every story must end … and another begins.

–30–

RALEIGH — Coastal Review Online Editor Frank Tursi was honored for his career as an environmental journalist and advocate as a recipient of the N.C. League of Conservation Voters’ Green Tie Awards.

The 2016 Green Tie Awards recognizing the state’s environmental champions was presented May 11 at Marbles Kids Museum in downtown Raleigh. Former Gov. Jim Hunt was the keynote speaker.

Tursi was selected to receive the league’s Catalyst Award, which recognizes “exceptional action to create change and bring attention to important environmental issues,” according to the league.

“Lifetime achievement awards mean you’re an old guy,” said Tursi, who just turned 65. “And I have a Medicare card to prove it. But I am, none the less, very honored to be recognized by an organization that works as diligently as the league to preserve our state’s natural wonders. That work is appreciated now more than ever.”

Started in 2011, Coastal Review Online is a daily, not-for-profit, news and feature service covering the N.C. coast. It is produced by the N.C. Coastal Federation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group dedicated to protecting and preserving the N.C. coast. The news service this year won 22 media awards from the N.C. Press Association for its environmental coverage.

Tursi is the news service’s founding editor. Before joining the federation in 2oo2, he spent 30 years as a newspaper journalist. He worked for more than two decades at the Winston-Salem Journal where he was the senior environmental reporter in the state. His environmental journalism has won numerous state and national awards. He is also the author of three history books.

Past Catalyst Award recipients include Gov. Hunt, Attorney General Roy Cooper, Congressman G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., and journalist Sue Sturgis from the Institute for Southern Studies.

Other recipients include Senator of the Year, Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham; Representative of the Year, Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham; Defender of the Environment, Sen. Josh Stein, D-Wake; “The Joe” Award recipient, Rick Glazier, executive director of the N.C. Justice Center; and Catalyst Award recipient, Melvin Montford of the North Carolina chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute.

Rising Star Awards were presented to a number of state legislators for their work on behalf of the environment.

The league is a statewide environmental advocacy organization dedicated to protecting, preserving and enhancing North Carolina’s natural environment.

Learn More

• Green Tie Awards

CHAPEL HILL – Coastal Review Online won almost two-dozen state press awards Thursday for its coverage of environmental and conservation news and issues along the N.C. coast.

The N.C. Press Association announced the 2015 awards during the 91^st annual Winter Institute meeting, which included an awards ceremony for the state editorial and photojournalism contest, at the George Watts Hill Alumni Center at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

The nonprofit news service’s writers and photographers, competing in the association’s online-only division, won 22 awards in all, including 10 first-place honors. Included in those awards were top honors for general excellence, appearance and design and general news reporting for a summer 2015 series on proposed drilling off the N.C. coast. Writer Catherine Kozak won five awards and Tess Malijenovsky, the news service’s former assistant editor, won four.

The contest period was Oct. 1, 2014-Sept. 30, 2015.

The association is a member-owned and operated nonprofit group established to protect First Amendment freedoms, promote the business interests of North Carolina newspapers and maintain high standards in the industry. Members include daily and community newspapers and special interest publications; online news publications; those who provide equipment, supplies, growth opportunities and materials to the industry; and those who generally support newspaper interests. It is the only industry trade group in the state.

Laura Nakoneczny, the association’s member services director, said this was the first time the group has had a competition for its online-only publications.

“What really drives it is the growing quality of online journalism and the need to recognize the good work being done not only in print but also by print practitioners online,” Nakoneczny said.

Only a handful of online publications competed this year, but that doesn’t diminish CRO‘s accomplishment, Nakoneczny said.

“The judges were totally amazed and one said he was ‘awestruck’ by the work Coastal Review was doing,” she said. “Online-only publications don’t compete in every (state’s) press contest so finding judges this year was an interesting task, but that said, those who judged this year have asked to judge again because of the quality of the work.”

Frank Tursi, CRO‘s founding editor, said the press awards are major benchmarks in the history of the young news service. The N.C. Coastal Federation, he noted, started CRO in February 2012 as an attempt to fill the gap in the coverage of coastal environmental issues left by the decline of traditional media. “It was an experiment. Could a nonprofit environmental group produce credible journalism?” he said. “I think tonight answered that question.”

Many of the writers who won awards last night have been with CRO from the beginning, Tursi said. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of these journalists. They believed in what we were trying to do, accepted meager pay but turned out first-class stories almost every day,” he said. “I’m extremely gratified that they were recognized for that effort.”

CRO has been a member of the N.C. Press Association since 2013. There was some initial reluctance among the association’s board of directors to admit a publisher that was also an environmental advocacy group, Tursi explained. “I asked them to spend some time in our archives and not to judge us by who publishes us but by what we publish,” he said. “If our stories could appear in any one of their newspapers, then there was no reason not admit us.”

The board voted unanimously to accept CRO’s application.

CRO‘s writers, most of whom are former newspaper journalists, strive hard every day to meet the highest journalistic standards of fairness and balance, said Tursi, a 30-year newspaper veteran who was the senior environmental reporter in North Carolina before joining the federation in 2002. “I tell our writers that we’re not interested in one-sided stories, that we will hold them to the same standards of a newsroom,” he said. “In this age of Fox News, MSNBC, ideological screech radio and Internet sites that merely echo our beliefs, at CRO we still cling to the old-fashioned notion that if you give them all the facts, readers are smart enough to come to their own conclusions.”

Here are the winners and categories:

First Place

• General excellence, staff
• Appearance and design, staff
• Offshore oil series, general news reporting, staff
• Woodpeckers Thrive at Rugged Preserve, news feature writing, Catherine Kozak
• A Ringside Seat to an Ancient Ritual, feature writing, Pat Garber
• The Bear Lady: Her Life & Mysterious Death, profile feature, Catherine Kozak
• Saltwater Intrusion Is Changing the Coast, Part 1, news enterprise reporting, Tess Malijenovsky
• The Birds of Raccoon Island, feature photography, Sam Bland
• How Did Rocks End Up on the Beach?, beat reporting, Trista Talton
• Taking the Pulse of the Coast, beat feature reporting, Tess Malijenovsky

Second Place

• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Drilling, news feature writing, Frank Tursi
• Carolina Plague and Nags Head, feature writing, Jared Lloyd
• Grandmother Kayaks from Maine to Guatemala, profile feature, Tess Malijenovsky
• Saltwater Intrusion: The Parts You Can’t See, news enterprise reporting, Tess Malijenovsky
• Salt: The Great Equalizer, feature photography, Jared Lloyd
• Sandbags as Seawalls, Wetlands as Dry Lands, beat news reporting, Kirk Ross
• Necessary Risk or Needless Threat, beat feature reporting, Catherine Kozak

Third Place

• Sea-Level Rise Redux, news feature writing, Frank Tursi
• Coastal Sketch: Paul Sykes, profile feature, Catherine Kozak
• Moonrise at the Cape, feature photography, Sam Bland
• Panel: Seismic Effects Still Unclear, beat news reporting, Mark Hibbs
• Banks Communities Staking a Position, beat feature reporting, Catherine Kozak

PINE KNOLL SHORES – Former Senator Marc Basnight, a Dare County native, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the N.C. Coastal Federation for years of leadership in the N.C. General Assembly that shaped the N.C. coast in significant ways.

“You look up and down the coast, there are a lot of things that have resulted from his legacy, from land being protected, restored areas, better regulations for coastal development to investments in infrastructure and things that he really shepherded through the process,” said Todd Miller, the executive director of the federation.

Former Senator Marc Basnight wins the Lifetime Achievement Award from the N.C. Coastal Federation. Photo: Shawn Rocco, News & Observer

Basnight is one of 15 winners of the 2014 Pelican Awards. The winners this year are varied, from a commercial fishermen to a Realtor to the library staff at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

The annual Pelican Awards recognize exemplary action to protect and preserve the coastal environment. The winners will receive the awards Saturday at a luncheon at the N.C. Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores in Carteret County, thanks to the sponsorship of Backwater Environmental.

Lifetime Achievement Award

During his 26-year reign in the Senate – the last 17 years of which he was the president pro tempore – Marc Basnight rose through the ranks, outlasting his opponents and even governors, to become the most politically powerful man in the state.

“Just the Clean Water Management Trust Fund by itself has certainly driven our agenda since 1997 in terms of a lot of things we’ve done. He opened up vast new opportunities that we didn’t have before that as a new tool for land acquisition,” Miller said.

Basnight’s brain child, the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund, which was established by the General Assembly, provides millions of dollars through grants to finance projects that address water quality. Money from the fund has helped reduce stormwater runoff, bought and restored vulnerable lands threatened by development and created a planning blueprint to start restoring the state’s once-famed oyster populations. He is also praised by environmentalists for a bill in 1997 that tightened regulations on hog farm lagoons and improved sewage treatment plants.

While the federation didn’t see eye-to-eye on all issues with the political leader, they recognize that he made the coast a much better place during his many years in public service. “I would say to his credit he was responsive — when he got requests for help, he tried to help people,” said Miller.

Northeast Coast

Troy Outland is a commercial fisherman on the Outer Banks who received a Pelican Award for making working waterfronts a workable idea. Photo: Staff

Many others along the coastline’s three regions have demonstrated exemplary commitment to their vision of a healthy, thriving coast. For example, Troy Outland, a native of the Outer Banks and a lifelong commercial fisherman whom the federation considers “a pioneer of cooperation” among recreational and commercial fishing interests in the area. He will be recognized with a Pelican Award for making traditional commercial fishing access to the historic Manns Harbor Marina a sustained reality.

“Well I was pretty surprised. I really had no idea I was going to get (picked) for that. Just pleased to get it,” said Outland.

Commercial fishermen along the coast find it more and more difficult to afford access to the water to dock their boats because of the cost of water-front property and the limited space available for storing their fishing gear. Outland helped establish and now chairs the Manns Harbor Commission, which is a board tasked with managing the first state-funded, shared-use working waterfront.

“Most fishermen, including myself, just don’t really like to get involved with things like that. They just like to get up and go to work and not really deal with issues like that. So I just felt like someone had to try to come up and get everybody together to see if we could get something going,” Outland said.

Central Coast

Allen Propst a realtor who blew the whistle on the illegal ditching and draining of wetlands in Pamlico County. Photo: Staff

Another friend of the coast is Allen Propst, a realtor from Oriental — a town in Pamlico County – who blew the whistle on the illegal ditching and draining of wetlands in the area.

“When Buck told me about this wetland forest conversion of the Atlas Tract to agriculture land, I was stunned,” Propst said. “I had spent about a week on this property about three years earlier trying to sell it as hunting/forestry land for Copper Station, one of the prior land owners. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the vast majority of this 4,700 acres was non-riverine wetland forest.”

His efforts resulted in hundreds of people writing emails and attending county commissioner meetings, letters from county leaders to federal agencies, and what appears to be enforcement action by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The country is losing wetlands at a rate of seven football fields each hour, and Propst showed that much of this loss occurs because regulatory safeguards for wetlands are not enforced.

“Continued diligence must be taken to prevent further degradation of these valuable wetlands now and in the future,” said Propst.

Southeast Coast

Sue Weddle of Sunset Beach won a Pelican Award for being a dedicated, persistent and effective advocate of the coast. Photo: Staff

Looking to the southeast region, another winner is Sue Weddle, of Sunset Beach. “Shocked, speechless, jubilation,” was how Weddle described her reaction to learning she had won a Pelican Award for being a dedicated, persistent and effective advocate of the coast.

Weddle retired in Sunset Beach with her husband, Owen, but found she could not relax. “I went out on our deck overlooking the marsh in a spring rain to thank my lucky stars that I had been given this wonderful place. When I looked up at our tidal creek, I saw a sediment plume about three-quarters of a block long with what looked like an oil slick on top of it. On that day I became an environmentalist,” she said.

Weddle soon began serving on state and local environmental rules review committees. She advocated against lifting the inlet-hazard area designation from Mad Inlet and continues to advocate for effective stormwater regulations. Most importantly, she keeps a close eye on how coastal development rules and regulations are being enforced and met near Sunset Beach. The federation said that Weddle “leaves no stone unturned, deed unread or permit unchallenged” when it comes to unnecessarily hurting the health of the coast.

“I always thought there were grown-ups in charge, and I didn’t have to worry,” Weddle said. “I learned there are no grown-ups in charge, and each and every one of us must step up to the plate.”

Many Others

Many others demonstrated the likes of these few winners and received Pelican Awards:

• Bill Hettler, a volunteer, for his loyal stewardship of the Hoop Pole Creek Nature Preserve and commitment to the federation 
• Bill Edwards of the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service for his significant contribution to land conservation and wetland restoration 
• Ernest Boyce, another volunteer, for his dedication to the coast and enthusiastic help with all federation efforts
  
• Craig Hardy of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries for his dedicated career in oyster restoration 
• Burrows Smith, a developer, for being a local champion and pioneer of Low-Impact Development
• Shawn Ralston, a former planner for New Hanover County, for leading efforts to provide sound environmental safeguards via adoption of the New Hanover County’s Special Use Permit process
• The staff of the UNCW William Maddison Randall Library for cataloging the federation’s collection of documents and making them accessible as a permanent coastal education resource
• The Trinity Center’s Sound to Sea Program educators for their leadership in installing a living shoreline in Bogue Sound
• The board of directors of the N.C. Press Association for recognizing the changing media landscape by supporting Coastal Review Online’s membership in the association 
• Lakes of Lockwood Homeowners Association for their efforts to install over 50 rain barrels and eight rain gardens with the Smart Yards Program
• The Town of Wrightsville beach for the town’s partnership and support in establishing the federation’s new southeast office and Fred and Alice Stanback Education Center

OCEAN — Coastal Review Online, the N.C. Coastal Federation’s online news service, is now a member of the N.C. Press Association. The board of the state’s only professional journalism trade organization accepted the federation’s membership application two weeks ago.

“To us it seemed like the logical next step,” noted Frank Tursi, a 30-year newspaper veteran who is now an assistant director at the federation and the editor of the news service. “Being a member of the press association gives us credibility as a legitimate news organization.”

The federation started the news service in February 2012 to fill the gap in the reporting of coastal environmental issues left by declines in newspapers and other traditional news media.  Most daily newspapers in the state once had fulltime reporters covering the environment, said Tursi, who was the senior environmental reporter in North Carolina before joining the federation in 2002. With declining readership and ad revenues, newspapers have cut staff and reduced the size of their circulation areas.

Frank Tursi

“Only two environmental reporters are left standing, and those reporters are restricted to their newspapers’ smaller circulation areas,” Tursi said. “Much of the coast, indeed much of state, is no longer within the beat of a specialized, environmental reporter.”

Coastal Review Online has attempted to pick up the slack, Tursi said. It publishes every day except weekends and holidays. More than 350 stories have appeared on the federation’s web site since the service was launched, and readership of the site has increased more than 60 percent.

Most of the stories have been written by paid freelance writers, many of whom are former newspaper reporters and editors. News stories cover a whole range of coastal environmental issues, and feature stories highlight coastal people and culture. An ongoing “Our Coast” series provides readers with places they can visit to experience the natural beauty of the N.C. coast.

Many of the stories have scooped the traditional media, Tursi said, and some stories have made waves:

• The inaugural story, a profile of Marc Basnight, broke the news that the former state senator is suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease.
• A three-part series on exporting wood pellets made from coastal trees is the most comprehensive treatment of the subject so far published in North Carolina.
• Legislative reporting is an important feature of Coastal Review Online when the N.C. General Assembly is in session. The service broke the story last year that the legislature was considering a bill to outlaw sea-level rise in state planning. Hundreds of media outlets across the world followed up, and the bill soon became the object of ridicule. Stephen Colbert, the TV satirist, devoted five minutes of his popular “The Colbert Report” to thoroughly skewer the bill and its backers. This year, Coastal Review Online led the reporting on a bill that changed the composition of the state’s regulatory commissions.

Writers are expected to meet the highest journalistic standards, Tursi said. “We expect our stories to be balanced and fair,” he said. “We’re not interested in stories that express one point of view, even if it’s our own. We still hold to the rather old-fashioned notion that people will come to the right conclusions if given all the facts.”

Beth Grace

Even so, there’s no getting around this fact: The news service’s publisher is a well-known environmental advocacy group. Advocacy and journalism don’t mix, Tursi said. In his letter accompanying the press association application, Tursi urged the board to ignore who publishes the news service and focus instead on what it has published.

“I asked them to spend some time in our archives,” he said. “Could those stories appear in their newspapers? I was confident of the answer.”

The board had some concerns about the news service’s connection to an advocacy group, said Beth Grace, the press association’s executive director. “But we saw stories that were objective and could appear anywhere. We got over our fears fast,” she said. “We liked that you have a focus of coverage, but you don’t have a mindset.”

Coastal Review Online is one of six online news services that are now press association members, Grace said. She expects more applications as the media world continues to change and evolve.

“We’re feeling our way just like everyone else,” Grace said. “I’m delighted that the board accepted your application because it shows that it’s open to accepting applicants that don’t fit the traditional mold.

Coastal Review Online will attempt to take the next step in the evolutionary process by focusing more on in-depth or investigative stories, Tursi said. But those stories are expensive to produce, he said, and the federation is looking for grant money to defray some of the costs.

“We want Coastal Review Online to become your indispensable source for coastal environmental news,” Tursi said. “Becoming a press association member was a step in that direction.”