OWAA Outdoor Voices Blog

Person writing mentorship words with chalk on a chalkboard

How to jumpstart (or shift) your outdoor communication career through mentorship

It can be tough starting out as an outdoor writer. Networking with other professional writers, pitching story ideas to editors, and learning to navigate the outdoor media industry can be intimidating.  And it can also be tough to break into an entirely new field of outdoor communication like wildlife photography, podcasting, or video production —

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Howard Fox stands in Nevada with a camera with mountains in the background

Meet OWAA member Howard Fox

The Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) provides resources to help our members flourish as outdoor communicators and establish themselves as industry leaders. We create opportunities to make valuable industry and personal connections, sharpen professional skills, showcase work, and gain access to in-demand educational resources and mentorship opportunities. There are many Individual member benefits. Howard Fox

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A person wearing white gloves taking environmental samples in dirt.

Three resources for building your environmental beat as a journalist

I didn’t love working at my local NPR radio station for the first few months. Writing one-minute stories covering Abilene, Texas city council lawn mowing contracts and library fundraisers wasn’t  the high-impact journalism I had in mind when I became a journalism major. And worse than not feeling like I wasn’t making an impact –

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A pot steams at a campsite next to a camping chair.

So you want to be a gear tester? What it’s really like when you’re paid to play

Tips on how to become a gear tester with Dan Nelson, Gear Institute editor and long-time member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America. Sitting inside a leaky tent, wrapped in a bag seemingly stuffed with turkey quills rather than goose down, I had an epiphany: Gear testing really is work. It was the mid-1990s

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Kris Millgate standing in a field in Montana wearing a large sun hat.

Meet OWAA member Kris Millgate

Meet Outdoor Writers Association of America member Kris Millgate The Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) provides resources to help our members flourish as outdoor communicators and establish themselves as industry leaders. We create opportunities to make valuable industry and personal connections, sharpen professional skills, showcase work and gain access to in-demand educational resources and

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Top 10 ways to make the most of an OWAA conference

Drawing hundreds of media members and some of the industry’s brightest stars — and offering innumerable workshops, seminars and activities — the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) conference, taking place September 9-11, 2023 in Gulf Shores, Alabama can be the most fun and rewarding event you’ll attend all year. It also can seem a bit overwhelming.

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