And this 2009 Surfrider Wavemaker Award goes to ...

Congratulations to DC Surfrider Chapter Chair Julie Lawson, amazing supporter of the Music Outreach Program, who is the recipient of the 2009 Surfrider Foundation Wavemaker Award for Chapter Leadership.

The Surfrider Foundation's Board of Directors gave out several 2009 Wavemaker Awards in different categories. Here's a photo of all of the 2009 Wavemaker Award Recipients. It was taken by Marketing Assistant Kyle Lishok at the February 2010 Awards Dinner in San Clemente, CA.


photo: Back Row (L-R): Jerry Collamer, Brock Wilson, Randy Renick, Julie Lawson, Rick Saveri, Kerry O'Bryan, Manase Mansur, Julie Steinleitner. Front Row (L-R): Belinda Smith, Kirk Holmes (AVEDA), Robb Havassy.

Read about all of the 2009 Wavemaker Award Recipients here in this Surfrider HQ press release. Here's an excerpt:

Chapter Leadership Award
Julie Lawson – Washington, DC Chapter

Julie’s efforts have made the Chapter a viable, credible and well-organized group. Her work has included a leadership role in the passage of the Washington, DC Bag Tax Bill, and assistance on other bag bans and bills. Additionally, Julie has worked tirelessly to recruit and train new activists, served as a mentor to other chapters and participated in numerous EarthShare presentations, leading to a 35% increase in pledges for the Foundation.


photo: Julie giving her award acceptance speech at the 2009 Wavemaker Award Dinner.

As an example of Julie's work, check this out - on April 1, 2009 the DC City Council held a hearing on Bill 18-150 "The Anacostia River Cleanup and Protection Act of 2009." Julie was invited to testify at the hearing, on behalf of Surfrider DC. This is her testimony -



Julie also testified at the January 20, 2010 DC City Council Committee on Government Operations & the Environment's hearing on Bill 18-521 "The Human and Environmental Health Protection Amendment Act of 2009."

Watch her testimony here. She is introduced about 23 minutes into the start of the hearing.


Another 2009 Wavemaker Award Recipient, also a friend of MOP, is Belinda Smith from the Surfrider San Diego Chapter. Belinda received the Distinguished Service Award, in part for her leadership on the development of a brand new Surfrider film “The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water." This film coincides with Surfrider's "Know Your H2O" campaign.


photo: Belinda

Here's the film's trailer -

The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water - TRAILER 1 from Surfrider Foundation San Diego C on Vimeo.

“The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water" will premiere on March 21st, World Water Day, in San Diego.



Congrats again to the 2009 Wavemaker Award Recipients!

Thanks to Kyle, Laura, Vickie, Belinda, and Ed, who all helped me gather the photos for this post.