Awards & Acclaim
Since 2002, Chesapeake Quarterly has served as Maryland Sea Grant's signature publication. The magazine's writers tell stories about the complex issues facing those who live in the Bay watershed — farmers, watermen, scientists, environmentalists, and others — and explain the science and outreach that inform decisions affecting us all.
Chesapeake Quarterly writers have won a series of awards for publication excellence over the past several years.
2025
Two issues of Chesapeake Quarterly won a Magazine, Journals, and Tabloids Grand Award in the 2025 APEX Awards for Publication Excellence! Our 2024 issues—“Complicated Contaminants: Finding PFAS in the Chesapeake Bay” (Vol. 23 No. 1) and “Bay Blues: How Blue Catfish Are Changing the Bay” (Vol. 23 No. 2)—were among 100 Grand Award winners selected from 1,000+ entries. The stories in these two issues were written by Ashley Goetz and Madeleine Jepsen, with graphic design by Jill Gallagher and editing by Annalise Kenney.
2021
Two of our fully digital issues of Chesapeake Quarterly were recognized with APEX Awards for Publication Excellence. The “Black on the Bay, Then and Now” issue (Vol. 20, No.1) won in the Electronic Magazine category, and the “Groundwater and the Chesapeake Bay” issue (Vol. 19, No. 1) won in the Green Magazine category. Both issues were our first foray into the digital production of Chesapeake Quarterly and were published on the ArcGIS StoryMaps platform.
2017
"The Buoys That Never Sleep" (Vol. 15, No. 1) by Daniel Pendick won an excellence award in the category of Feature Writing from APEX. His article examined the tribulations and successes of scientists who created a network of data-gathering buoys that revealed new insights into the inner workings of the Chesapeake Bay.
2016
"Growing Oyster Farms" (Vol. 14, No. 4) with feature articles by Michael W. Fincham and graphic design by Sandy Rodgers won an APEX award for publication excellence for the entire print issue in the Magazines, Journals, & Tabloids Category. APEX honors work in nonprofit and business communications.
2015
AVA Digital Awards Gold Winner in the Microsite Category for "Come High Water: Sea Level Rise and Chesapeake Bay" (Vol. 13 Nos. 2-3) by Chesapeake Quarterly and Bay Journal staff: Dan Jacobs, Amit Janbandhu, Sandy Rodgers, Jeffrey Brainard, Michael W. Fincham, Daniel Strain, Karl Blankenship, Rona Kobell, Michael Shultz, and David Harp. This award was given by the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals.
2015
APEX excellence award for the entire print issue in the Magazine Category, "Come High Water: Sea Level Rise and Chesapeake Bay" (Vol. 13 Nos. 2-3) by Chesapeake Quarterly and Bay Journal staff. APEX honors work in nonprofit and business communications.
2014
Boating Writers International, First Place in the 2014 Annual Writing Contest, Seamanship, Rescue & Safety Category. Michael W. Fincham for "Remembering the Cuyahoga." Awarded February 13, 2015.
2014
"Taking the Long View: The Fall & Rise & Fall of Stripers and a Lot of Less-famous Fish" (Vol. 12, No. 1) by Michael W. Fincham won an excellence award in the category of Feature Writing from APEX, which honors work in nonprofit and business communications. The article examined what scientists have learned about the complex dynamics behind the rise and fall of fish populations in the Chesapeake Bay."The Chesapeake's Excellent Fossils" (Vol. 12, No. 4) by Daniel Strain won an excellence award in the category of Technical and Technology Writing from APEX. His article looks at the rich trove of marine fossils found in two cliff formations along the Chesapeake Bay and what it tells us about the organisms that lived in ancient oceans.
2013
Boating Writers International, First Place in the 2013 Annual Writing Contest, Ethics and Environment Category. Michael W. Fincham for "Taking the Long View: The Fall & Rise & Fall of Stripers & a Lot of Less-famous Fish," (Vol. 12, No. 1). Awarded February 14, 2014.
2013
"A Model Plan: How Can We Gauge the Bay's Cleanup?" (Vol. 11, No. 3) by Daniel Strain won an excellence award in the category of Technology & Science Writing from APEX, which honors work in nonprofit and business communications. The article was about the computer models used by the Chesapeake Bay Program to guide the TMDL watershed cleanup plan.
2012
Boating Writers International, First Place in the 2013 Annual Writing Contest, Ethics and Environment Category. Michael W. Fincham for "Food Fish Fight: Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management & Menhaden Wars," (Vol. 10, Nos. 2 and 3), which was reprinted in Chesapeake Bay Magazine in 2012. Awarded February 15, 2013.
2012
"Menhaden: Test Case for New Fisheries Management" (Vol. 10, Nos. 2-3) with feature articles by Michael W. Fincham and graphic design by Sandy Rodgers, won an excellence award for the entire issue in the Magazine and Journals category. The issue covers the controversy over whether or not to limit the Chesapeake's menhaden fishery, and the emergence of a new kind of fisheries management.
2011
"Ready for Rising Waters?" (Vol. 9, No. 4) with feature articles by Michael W. Fincham and Erica Goldman and graphic design by Sandy Rodgers, won an excellence award for the entire issue in the Magazine and Journals category. The issue focused on climate change and its effects on sea level rise and hurricane intensity and frequency in the Chesapeake Bay."Going to Extremes: The Storm over Hurricanes" (Vol. 9, No. 4) by Michael W. Fincham won an excellence award for Feature Writing. The article gives a history of storm science and looks back at the biggest storms to hit the Chesapeake to answer the question, "Are bigger storms coming to the Bay?"
2010
"Can Trees Save the Bay?" (Vol. 8, No. 4) with feature articles by Jack Greer, won an award for Magazine & Journal Writing. Trees, under assault by development and disease, provide nature's frontline defense against runoff of nutrients and sediment."Reading the Rip," (Vol. 8, No. 3) with articles by Michael W. Fincham, won an award for Feature Writing. The U.S. Lifesaving Association estimates that rip currents kill more than 100 swimmers on our nation's beaches each year.
2010
Boating Writers International, First Place in the 2009 Annual Writing Contest, Ethics and Environment Category. Michael W. Fincham for "Reading the Rip," (Vol. 8, No. 3). Awarded February 10, 2010.
2009
The issue "Renewing an Urban Watershed" (Vol. 7, No. 2), with articles by Erica Goldman and graphics and design by Sandy Rodgers, won for excellence in the Magazines and Journals category. The issue focuses on Watershed 263, an ultra-urban landscape where all the streams travel through underground pipes, and where restoration depends on community awareness and participation."Shadow on the Chesapeake," (Vol. 7, No. 3), an article by Jack Greer, won for Science and Environmental Writing. The article talks about the increasing turbidity that clouds the Chesapeake every year. Greer traces the work of two researchers who have uncovered clues to this puzzling haziness and the Bay's chronic eutrophication.
2008
Michael Fincham received an excellence in Magazine and Journal Writing award for his in-depth look at Pfiesteria on the tenth anniversary of the "hysteria" set in motion by the appearance of this algal cell
in Maryland's
Pocomoke River (Vol. 6, No. 1).
Erica Goldman received an award for Science and Environmental Writing for her feature article on the power of the Bay's "other filter feeders" — like mussels and clams — to clean up Chesapeake waters in an era when the oyster, the Chesapeake's major filter feeder, is in steep decline (Vol. 6, No. 2).
Erica Goldman received an award for Science and Environmental Writing for her feature article on the power of the Bay's "other filter feeders" — like mussels and clams — to clean up Chesapeake waters in an era when the oyster, the Chesapeake's major filter feeder, is in steep decline (Vol. 6, No. 2).
2007
"The MSX Files: Unmasking an Oyster Killer" (Vol. 5, No. 2) won for excellence in the Magazines and Journals category. With
articles by Michael Fincham and graphics and design by Sandy Rodgers, the issue
was devoted to the devastating oyster disease, caused by a mysterious parasite, that has plagued the Chesapeake Bay for more than fifty years.
Jack Greer won an award for "The River’s Keeper,” a profile on Drew Koslow, the riverkeeper for Annapolis's South
River, whose job is to defend the river against pollution and to serve as its eyes, ears, and voice (Vol. 4, No. 4).
