 The Roy Chapman Andrews Society recognized contemporary explorers in February 2003 with the presentation of its first Distinguished Explorer Award. The award, which includes a $5,000 prize, is modeled in the tradition of the many awards Andrews received during his lifetime of exploration
Fittingly, the first recipient of the Roy Chapman Andrews Society Distinguished Explorer Award - paleontologist Michael Novacek - has gained worldwide recognition for exploration in the same part of the globe that gave Andrews lasting fame: the Gobi of Mongolia. Dr. Novacek is expedition leader for a series of joint expeditions sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. This fieldwork began in 1990, exactly 60 years after Andrews ended his own series of AMNH explorations in the region, CLICK HERE for a report on Dr. Novacek's New Millenium Expedition.
 The Society presented Dr. Novacek with the first Distinguished Explorer Award in a ceremony on Friday, February 21, 2003. The presentation included an acceptance lecture by him entitled "Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs: Eighty-Two Years of Fossil Hunting in Mongolia's Gobi Desert." The ceremony took place at Eaton Chapel on the Beloit College campus, Andrews's alma mater. After-wards Dr. Novacek signed copies of Time Traveler and Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs, works of comtemporary popular science that transmit an excitement for discovery reminiscent of Andrews's own writing.  An exclusive dinner with Dr. Novacek for members followed.
The Society's award ceremony introduced a weekend of companion events about Andrews the next day at PaleoFest 2003, hosted by the Burpee Museum of Natural History in nearby Rockford, Illinois.
The Distinguished Explorer Award program is a principal focus of the Roy Chapman Andrews Society. Founded in 1998, the Society's mission is to honor the legacy of one of the most celebrated explorers of the 20th century by educating the public about Andrews's life, work, and adventures; promoting the value of scientific exploration and discovery; and emphasizing Andrews's lifetime ties to Beloit. Award recipients are:
- Dr. Michael J. Novacek, leader of the first Western expedition to the Gobi Desert since Andrews' discovery of the first dinosaur egg fossil there in 1922
- Dr. Mark Plotkin, ethnobotanist and bio-prospector for new medicines developed from the plants and practices of traditional healers of the Amazon jungle
- Dr. Robert Ballard, discoverer of the RMS Titanic and founder of the Jason Project, an educational tool enabling students to watch live transmissions from underwater robot explorers
- Dr. Steve Squyres, principal investigator for the Mars Exploration Rover mission whose presentations included live, televised transmissions from Mars
- Drs. Lonnie and Ellen Mosley-Thompson, scientific "ice hunters" who examine the climate and environmental history of the Earth through the analysis of glacial core samples
- Dr. Mark W. Moffett, a real-life adventurer with awards for writing and photography
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Dr. Michael Novacek
received the first
Roy Chapman
Andrews Society
Distinguished Explorer
Award in Beloit,
Wisconsin, on
February 21, 2003.
Dr. Novacek credits his
childhood experiences
with "the faded red
cloth cover and green
and black inkings" of
Andrews' All About
Dinosaurs with being
one of the inspirations
for his own career
as an explorer.
CLICK HERE to learn about the award's selection criteria.
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