OWAA OUTDOOR VOICES
Use Your Outdoor Voices
-
Meet OWAA member Karuna Eberl
Karuna Eberl writes about conservation, nature, history and travel from the high country of Colorado, or wherever else her and her husband, Steve, are living in their van. Some of her regular outlets include National Parks magazine, the National Wildlife Refuges and Family Handyman, where she also writes a column about women in the trades. She’s produced and directed a number of independent films and documentaries, co-authored an award-winning guidebook to the Florida…
-
7 picturesque nature spots on the Alabama gulf coast
Alabama’s Gulf Coast is full of picture-perfect scenes for nature lovers to revel in the unbeatable beauty of the area, explorers can reconnect with nature and discover local history, while finding adventure along the way. From parks and trails to lakes and beaches, Alabama’s coast offers incredible natural settings perfect for unique outdoor experiences. Here…
-
Three common grammar mistakes (and how to avoid them)
When I served as copy editor of my school newspaper, I saw a LOT of grammar mistakes. I did love getting to know the freshman, but editing their first ever news stories was … time consuming to say the least. I constantly made notes about buried leads, improperly attributed quotes and of course, bad grammar. …
-
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 —…
-
Light your basecamp with MPOWERD portable solar lights
As an outdoor communicator — writer, photographer, video producer, podcaster, content creator or artist — you probably spend a fair amount of your time outside in the field reporting while experiencing and exploring the great outdoors first-hand. Solar lights are a great option when you’re camping, so you can see in the dark and don’t…
-
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…
-
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 –…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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.…
-
Join us for OWAA events!
OWAA provides members (and sometimes non-members) access to professional development content to help improve your craft, stay up to date on the latest and greatest achievements in the outdoors and outdoors industries and attain new story ideas. Non-members that attend OWAA events and then decide to join later can have the registration fee for the…
-
Outdoor Writers Association of America Announces Excellence in Craft and Scholarship Winners
Through its annual Excellence in Craft Contest, the Outdoor Writers Association of America honored 65 professional journalists for their prize-winning work in dozens of media outlets. The winners were announced on Saturday, June 27 during OWAA’s first-ever virtual annual conference. HONORARY AWARDS In addition to the EIC Contest, OWAA honored the following members for their…