Cruising World editor wins Farnham Award - Boat U.S. Reports

The coveted Moulton H. "Monk" Farnham Award for Excellence in Editorial Commentary for 2001 was presented by BoatU.S. to Cruising World editor, Herb McCormick, for his courage in challenging his home state's environmental establishment.

During an awards ceremony held by Boating Writers International at the Miami International Boat Show in February, McCormick was recognized by BoatU.S. Vice President Michael Sciulla for using his editorial column to question Rhode Island's ban on onboard flow-through marine sanitation devices and for assigning reporter Darrell Nicholson to do a first-hand investigation of the problems caused by Rhode Island's action.

Established by BoatU.S. in memory of Monk Farnham, the former chairman of the BoatU.S. National Advisory Council and outspoken editor of a number of boating magazines, the award is designed to recognize editors of boating and fishing magazines with "a passion for boating, a crusading spirit and a willingness to use their editorial page to lead the debate on issues facing our community and industry."

The award includes a handcrafted trophy depicting a quill pen drawing inspirational "ink" from a series of rolling waves, as well as a check for $1,000. Previous winners include Skip Allen, former editor and publisher of Southern Boating, Bill Sisson, editor of Soundings, Bill Schanen, editor and publisher of Sailing magazine, Matt Trulio, editor of Powerboat magazine and Chris Landry of Powerboat Reports.

The judges for this year's award included Sciulla, Tony Gibbs, a former editor of Yachting, Islands and The New Yorker; Chuck Husick an Ocean Navigator contributing editor and former president of Chris Craft Boats and Dean Travis Clarke, executive editor of Sport Fishing magazine.