Maryland’s natural resources department is accepting nominations for its annual Admiral of the Chesapeake Bay Award.
Bestowed by Maryland’s governor, the lifetime achievement award honors individuals who demonstrate their commitment to conserving and restoring the Chesapeake Bay.
Nominees can include individuals who have organized communities, led restoration efforts, enhanced scientific knowledge about the Chesapeake Bay, or otherwise improved the health of the Bay and its watershed.
People can fill out a public nomination form on DNR’s website for individuals they believe to be deserving of the award. Nominations are open through Aug. 31.
DNR staff volunteers will review the nominations and make their recommendations to the state’s natural resources secretary and the governor.
DNR will publicly announce award winner(s) by the end of the year.
In 1959, then-Maryland Gov. J. Millard Tawes instituted the award to recognize individuals who went above and beyond in their commitment to the Chesapeake Bay.
This is the second year that DNR is welcoming nominations from the public for the Admiral award. The process was opened to the public for the first time last year in an effort to solicit more nominations and honor former Admiral of the Chesapeake Bay Award recipient Vincent O. Leggett. Leggett, who founded the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, passed away in 2024.
Last year’s award recipient was Professor Thomas Miller, a longtime fisheries biologist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
More than 100 individuals have received the award, such as Captain Eldridge Meredith, a waterman and charter boat captain who worked in and around the Bay for 80 years; David M. Goshorn, DNR’s current Deputy Secretary and former DNR Chesapeake Bay restoration officer; and John Page Williams, a master naturalist and environmental educator who worked for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for 46 years.
