University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) Journalism senior Katie Delk is the recipient of Planet Forward’s 2023 Storyfest Award in the Best Science Narrative category for “Solutions on the Half-Shell: Healing Florida’s Waters with Clams.”

The annual environmental storytelling competition features the best stories from university students on sustainability, the environment and climate change. Planet Forward is a project hosted at the George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs in Washington, D.C.

The six 2023 competition winners will travel with a dedicated team of naturalists, photo instructors, an undersea specialist and a wellness instructor to Iceland for a five-day voyage with Lindblad Expeditions aboard the newest polar vessel, National Geographic Resolution. While in Iceland, the winners will explore remote fjords and volcanic isles, while learning how the country is addressing conservation and national resource protection topics in the face of climate change.

According to the judges, “Katie’s story allows us to sensitively enter a threatened coastal ecosystem through the community directly impacted – the very people who take real action to protect the natural world they depend upon.”

The story was originally published as part of the UFCJC Watershed project marking the 50^th anniversary of the Clean Water Act of 1972.

Delk served as a 2022 Florida Climate Institute Student Climate Fellow under the mentorship of Cynthia Barnett, UFCJC Environmental Journalist-in-Residence. She is also one of four UFCJC students who will compete in the 2022-23 Hearst Journalism Awards National Championships in San Francisco from June 2-8.

Posted: May 4, 2023
Category: College News, Student News
Tagged as: Katie Delk, Planet Forward Storyfest Awards, Watershed