The Honors and Awards program of AAPG provides a means for recognizing outstanding achievements and contributions by professional geologists, especially in the area of exploration for petroleum and energy mineral resources, and by other professionals who further the goals and objectives of the geosciences.

The following awards are funded by the AAPF Foundation. Recipients are not required to be AAPG members:

Grover E. Murray Distinguished Educator Award

Presented for distinguished and outstanding contributions to geological education, both at the university level and toward education of the general public.

• Joseph A. Cartwright, University of Oxford, Oxford, England.
• Gregor P. Eberli, University of Miami, Miami, Fla.
• Charles Kerans, University of Texas at Austin.
• Donald R. Lowe, Stanford University, Stanford, Cali.

Wallace E. Pratt Memorial Award

Presented to honor and reward the author(s) of the best AAPG BULLETIN article published each calendar year.

• Sonja Spasojevic and Michael Gurnis, for "Sea Level and Vertical Motion of Continents from Dynamic Earth Model Since the Late Cretaceous," which appeared in the November 2012 BULLETIN.

Spasojevic is with BP, Houston, and Gurnis is with the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.

Robert H. Dott Sr. Memorial Award

Presented to honor and reward the author/editor of the best special publication dealing with geology published by the Association.

• John A. Breyer for Memoir 97 "Shale Reservoirs: Giant Resources for the 21st Century."

Breyer is with Marathon Oil, Houston.

John W. Shelton Search and Discovery Award

Presented in recognition of the best contribution to the "Search and Discovery" website in the past year.

• Neil K. Basu, Gervasio J. Barzola, Hector Bello, Paul R. Clarke and Oswaldo E. Viloria for the paper "Integrated Eagle Ford Reservoir Characterization – Which Data is Critical to Collect and Best Describes Well Performance?"

All are with Pioneer Natural Resources, Irving, Texas.

George C. Matson Award

Presented to honor and reward the best oral presentation at the 2013 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition in Pittsburgh, Pa.

• Stephen G. Holtkamp, for the paper "A More Complete Catalog of the 2011 Youngstown, Ohio, Earthquake Sequence From Template Matching Reveals a Strong Correlation to Pumping at a Wastewater Injection Well."

Holtkamp's co-authors are Brian Currie and Michael R. Brudzinski. All are with Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Jules Braunstein Memorial Award

Presented to honor and reward the best poster presentation at the 2013 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition in Pittsburgh, Pa.

• Satinder Chopra and Ritesh Kumar Sharma, for the poster "New Seismic Attribute for Determination of Lithology and Brittleness."

Both Chopra and Sharma are with Arcis Seismic Solutions, Calgary, Canada. Chopra also is the current editor of the EXPLORER's popular Geophysical Corner column.

Gabriel Dengo Memorial Award

Presented to honor and reward the best oral presentation at the 2013 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition in Cartagena, Colombia.

• Irene Arango, with Chevron, Houston, for the paper "Evaluating Hydrocarbon Expulsion Efficiency from Shale Reservoirs."

Ziad Beydoun Memorial Award

Presented to honor and reward the best poster presentation at the 2013 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition in Cartagena, Colombia.

• Jaime Castillo, Victor Castro, Alfredo Ramirez, Carlos Mora, Paola Blanco and Claudia Ceballos, for the poster "Cupiagua Sur XN1Z – Drilling Experience: Response and Uncertainty Management for Unexpected Overburden Sections."

All of the co-authors are with Equion Energia, Bogota, Colombia.

Geosciences in the Media Award

Presented for notable journalistic achievement in any medium, which contributes to public understanding of geology, energy resources or the technology of oil and gas exploration. This year there are two awards being presented – one to the author and on-air host of a popular television series, the second to a project/film that enjoyed a major U.S. theatrical release in 2013 and has been seen by millions of people around the world.

• Scott D. Sampson, author of "Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life," and consultant/on-air host of the Discovery Channel series "Dinosaur Planet."
• The "Switch" Energy Project, a documentary film and media outreach initiative that takes a look into the world's energy future. The Project includes an ongoing website, Facebook page, social media and the Switch Energy Lab.

Accepting the award will be past AAPG president Scott Tinker, who served as the film's co-producer and narrator, and Switch director and co-producer Harry Lynch.

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Join us in congratulating these individuals for their outstanding contributions to the geosciences.