Robin Lloyd is this year’s recipient of the Diane McGurgan Service Award. She received a framed certificate and a $500 cash prize for the honor. The announcement was made by NASW President Robin Marantz Henig during this year’s NASW business meeting in Cambridge.
Lloyd is recognized for five years of outstanding leadership as founding chair of the NASW Grants Committee. She put into place many of the procedures for distributing NASW Idea Grants that have made the solicitation, evaluation, and awarding of those grants a well-oiled machine. (She recently stepped down from the role of committee chair while continuing to remain active as a committee member.)
The NASW Grants Committee serves as one way to distribute money from the Authors Coalition, used to support projects such as meetings, websites, and books intended to benefit science writers as a community (a stipulation of Authors Coalition money). To date, the committee has made awards totaling nearly $430,000.
The Diane McGurgan Service Award has been given annually since 2001. It was created after member Louis Lerner sent an unsolicited check for $2,500 to NASW as a token of appreciation to then Executive Director Diane McGurgan and others whose efforts on behalf of NASW go above and beyond the call of duty.
At McGurgan's suggestion, an annual service award was created. After initial funds were disbursed, the NASW board voted to continue the awards at the same $500 annual level.
