$75,000 Grantham Prize Winner Announced

2010 Grantham Prize Honors Excellence in Environmental Journalism

NARRAGANSETT, R.I., June 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting has announced Canadian author Alanna Mitchell as the winner of the 2010 Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on the Environment. Mitchell, author of the extraordinary book "Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis" published by McClelland & Stewart, is the first book author to receive The Grantham Prize and the first Canadian entrant to win the $75,000 Grantham Prize.

"We are proud to award Alanna Mitchell the 2010 Grantham Prize," said Sunshine Menezes, executive director of Metcalf Institute and Grantham Prize administrator.  "An engaging work, 'Sea Sick' clearly and eloquently explains the specific dangers facing global marine ecosystems. Mitchell faced her own demons to craft a story that showcases marine science – and scientists – in a balanced, accurate, and poetic fashion."

The Grantham Prize honors outstanding coverage of the environment, and recognizes reporting that has the potential to bring about constructive change. The prize was established to encourage high quality environmental journalism in all media, while drawing attention to the subject of the prize-winning stories, increasing public awareness and understanding of environmental issues. The $75,000 Grantham Prize is awarded annually to nonfiction work originally produced in the United States or Canada during the previous calendar year in newspapers, magazines, and books and on television, cable, radio, and online.

Alanna Mitchell is a Canadian journalist and author known for her ability to describe complex ideas in plain language. She was the science and environment reporter at the Globe and Mail, Canada's National Newspaper, for fourteen years until she left daily journalism to devote herself to writing on science. In 2000, she was named the best environmental reporter in the world by the Reuters Foundation and was invited in 2002 to undertake a guest fellowship at Oxford University.  This led to her first book, "Dancing at the Dead Sea," published in 2004.  Mitchell, a native of Toronto, is an associate at the International Institute for Sustainable Development and is a frequent guest speaker on environmental issues.

Also released in the United States by University of Chicago Press in October 2009, "Sea Sick" examines the current state of the world's oceans – describing an urgent yet little understood ecological crisis. Mitchell penned the 2010 Grantham Prize winner while joining the crews of leading scientists in nine of the global oceans' hotspots to see firsthand what is really happening in the world's oceans.  Whether it's the impact of coral reef bleaching, the puzzle of the oxygen-less dead zones such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico, or the shocking implications of the increasing acidification of the sea, Mitchell explains the science behind the story in this engaging, accessible yet authoritative account.

Established in 2005, The Grantham Prize for Excellence in Environmental Reporting is funded by Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham through The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment and is administered by Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting.

SOURCE Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting