Since 1994, the John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism has been awarded annually to the author of an article or series in a U.S. newspaper or magazine that makes an exceptional contribution to public understanding of environmental issues. Over the years, the award has gained a reputation among journalists as the nation’s premier environmental writing prize. It has recognized work that exemplifies the best in American print journalism, from a News & Observer investigation of political favoritism in North Carolina’s hog industry (which later won the Pulitzer Prize) to the Seattle Times’s revelation that industrial wastes contaminated with heavy metals are being used on farms as fertilizer.

The award is judged by an independent panel of distinguished journalists and environmental specialists. Its first chair was Thomas Winship, the editor known for transforming the Boston Globe from a relatively minor publication into a leading national newspaper. The current chair, Joan Konner, is a past dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and the producer of many prizewinning documentaries, including (in partnership with Bill Moyers) “Moyers: In Search of the Constitution” and “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth.” She has served on the Pulitzer Prize Board and as a juror for the National Magazine Awards. Other judges include the founder of Scientific American, the environmental scientists Jane Lubchenco and E.O. Wilson, and former New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis.

The Oakes Award was established in 1993 by John B. Oakes’s family and friends to promote the highest standards in environmental journalism. The first prize was conferred a year later. The award is housed at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental public policy organization of which Oakes was a founding trustee. Both the award itself and the judging process are kept distinct from NRDC’s policy goals. The prize and related expenses are funded by a separately held endowment donated by Oakes’s family, friends, and colleagues, and all judging is done by the Oakes Award Committee of Judges. Administrative work is handled by the editorial staff of OnEarth, NRDC’s editorially independent environmental magazine.