Kelsey Roseth and Calvin Vick received this year’s Madson Fellowships. The fellowship is an annual grant program through OWAA that funds continuing education for outdoor communicators, both members and nonmembers.
Roseth received $1,785 to attend OWAA’s annual conference this summer in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Vick will use the $1,083 he received to attend the International Herpetological Symposium.
Roseth is an OWAA member and freelance multimedia journalist based in Duluth, Minnesota. Her bylines include Birds & Blooms, Culture Trip, Outdoor News, Northern Wilds, Make it Minnesota, and Duluth/ Superior Living, among others. She attended her first OWAA conference last year and said the connections she made helped her quit her job to pursue freelancing full time. She found the conference so valuable she wanted to attend again and the fellowship made it financially feasible.
Vick, originally from Minnesota, is planning to study outdoor communication at the University of Arkansas this fall. At the International Herpetological Symposium in Costa Rica he’ll hear from speakers from around the world, including those who share the field through their writing and on television. Vick hopes to one day become a herpetologist who not only studies reptiles and amphibians, but promotes their conservation via the media.
OWAA’s Madson Fellowship is funded through the John Madson Fellowship Fund, an endowment that thrives primarily through OWAA member contributions and fundraising efforts. Its goal is to enhance professional communication skills for outdoor communicators.
The fellowship program is meant to honor the legacy of John Madson, one of OWAA’s most talented, respected and honored legends. Applications are evaluated by a committee of OWAA Circle of Chiefs award winners. More information can be found at www.owaa.org / programs/scholarships-fellowships/ madson-fellowship/. ♦