Pacific marine mammal guide wins three awards

June 28, 2016

A popular guide to marine mammals written by a University of Alaska Fairbanks professor has won three book awards. "Guide to Marine Mammals and Turtles of the U.S. Pacific," by Kate Wynne, received recognition from the National Outdoor Book Awards, Communications Concepts Inc. and the National Association of Government Communicators.

Wynne's book completes her trilogy of mammal guides. She said she got the idea for the three-part series back in the 1990s, shortly after she completed her first book, "Guide to Marine Mammals of Alaska." The second, "Guide to Marine Mammals and Turtles of the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico," was cowritten with Malia Schwartz and originally published by Rhode Island Sea Grant in 1999. With the newest member of the trilogy, observers can identify marine mammals on all three U.S. coasts.

The Pacific marine mammal guide received first place in the nature guidebook category from NOBA, first place in the book category in the Blue Pencil & Gold Screen competition held by NAGC and an APEX award of excellence in the printed book category from Communications Concepts.

Wynne, a recently retired marine mammal specialist with Alaska Sea Grant at UAF, wrote and designed her books with field scientists and boaters in mind. The books include scientifically accurate color illustrations and range maps for each animal, as well as surface-profile silhouettes to help with identification.

The guides have proved popular with professional observers, scientists and fishermen, as well as tourists, teachers, homeschoolers and children. They are used on boats, on beach walks, in classrooms, offices and laboratories, and at home. Wynne said the broad appeal of her guides “is by far the thing that makes me happiest. It’s little kids flipping page to page, looking at the pictures. It’s knowing books are in the Coast Guard helicopters. They’re in the wheelhouses of fishing boats left and right. They’re everywhere. People find utility from all these different angles.”

“Compact, easy-to-use (and, yes, waterproof!), sea life guidebooks don’t get any better than this," a judge in the NOBA competition wrote.

Publication of "Guide to Marine Mammals and Turtles of the U.S. Pacific" was supported in part by a grant from the People’s Endowment at the UA Foundation. The book is published by Alaska Sea Grant. For more information, see Marine mammal guide makes identification easy.

Kate Wynne, a professor emeritus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has completed this trilogy of marine mammal guides.