At its recent annual conference, the Michigan Outdoor Writers Association (MOWA) awarded Jack Armstrong of Royal Oak, currently a junior at Michigan State University, its MOWA/Toyota “Let’s Go Places” Award.

Armstrong received $2,500 in support of his goal of pursuing a career in communicating the outdoors experience. “I’m majoring in journalism and environment, science and health reporting and minoring in media photography and environmental science,” says Armstrong. “I cover solutions to tricky environmental problems, like tech that could one day make fuel from carbon exhaust.”

Tom Carney, MOWA Board Chairman and Chair of the Award Committee says, “Jack is the first to win the award on the basis of photography. His application included his photo essay that detailed Michigan’s brief sturgeon season held each February. His use of a variety of camera angles and photo types was particularly impressive. It gave a great indication of how hard he worked the event.”

Judge Claire Watts, herself a “Let’s Go Places” award-winner in 2021, was equally impressed.

“WOW! Great photos, I feel immersed in his work and felt engaged in the sturgeon festival.” She also noted the “energy and passion” that fueled his application letter.

Since he only has access to professional-grade photography gear through MSU, Armstrong said he planned to use the money to upgrade his own equipment, “to further my environmental photography projects both professional and personal.”

The award is coming at a good time for Armstrong; this summer he will travel to Kenya for a study abroad program, where he plans to photograph African wildlife.

In addition to the monetary prize, the scholarship included expenses for attending the MOWA conference and up to five years as an Apprentice member in the organization.

With the financial support of Toyota Motors North America, MOWA offers the “Let’s Go Places Award” to Michigan resident college upperclassmen whose career plans include communicating the outdoors experience, including but not limited to issues like public lands, wildlife diseases, water quality challenges, outdoor recreational activities and nature writing.

The goal of the award is to help subsidize the efforts of these individuals as they take the next steps toward achieving their career goals. A unique feature of this program is that while the award might be used like a scholarship, awardees are not restricted to using their prize money for school expenses only; they may apply their funds in any way that helps them grow professionally as communicators.