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Environmental Writer Wins Award in Memory of WRAL Farm Reporter
Leggett-Roberson Receives Dan Wilkinson Award
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North Carolina writer Gail Leggett-Roberson shows off her Dan Wilkinson WRAL Conservation Communication Award. |
Dan Wilkinson covered stories on eastern North Carolina farms for two decade for Capitol Broadcasting on both radio & television. After his sudden death in October 2003, the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors named an award in his honor. The most recent Dan Wilkinson WRAL Conservation Communication Award went to eastern North Carolina author, columnist and naturalist Gail Leggett-Roberson.
WRAL-TV Meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner assisted in the presentation that took place in December.
Every year the award is presented to an individual or an organization that makes outstanding effort to deliver the natural resource stewardship message to the community.
Leggett-Roberson was honored for her column “Nature in a Nutshell” that appears in The Wake Weekly newspaper.
Sheila Jones (right) accepts the award from WRAL-TV’s Elizabeth Gardner on behalf of Leggett-Roberson. |
“Gail Leggett-Roberson has done an outstanding job of raising the public’s environmental awareness by writing about her personal fascination and admiration for the natural world,” said Gardner at the ceremony. “In every story, Gail weaves in the golden thread of conservation, encouraging all of us to get outside to marvel and care for the wondrous, life-sustaining planet we call home.”
The Wake Soil and Conservation District Board cited Leggett-Roberson for her “down-to-earth writings and unbridled passion.
Leggett-Roberson could not be at the event due to illness but environmental educator Sheila Jones and Wake County Soil & Water Conservation District’s Larry Petrovick delivered the award to her.
“I am hanging it in my office today,” said Leggett-Roberson. “I don’t display many of them, as I am not, as I said, into gathering them as much as into making a difference by what I do. But this one, in particular, means more to me than I can ever say. Thank you for traveling all that way, but thank you more for the light and passion you brought into my life.”
Leggett-Roberson also runs the Morningstar Nature Refuge Williamston, NC, a private nature center focuses on education about the natural resources of the state and planet while using a subdued Native American theme of the Sacred Circle of Life. The center is free and open to the people of all ages by appointment.
“We must continue to present this information in any way we can to all ages, especially to our youth who will determine the earth’s future course,” said Leggett-Roberson in a written statement she sent to be read at the ceremony. “I try so hard to pass along the beauty and majesty of nature through my written interwoven experiences gained while exploring and studying the fields and meadows, woods and swamps of North Carolina and all that grows and lives there.”
Thanks to Wake County Soil & Conservation District’s Larry Petrovick for these capcom photos.
