ARRL Board Names Humanitarian, Leonard Award Winners

NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 20, 2004--The ARRL Board of Directors has named Charles M. "Mike" Young, KM9D, and Jan E. Heaton, KF4TUG, of Naples, Florida, to receive the 2003 ARRL International Humanitarian Award. The Board also selected Sari Krieger, a staff writer with Virginia's Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger, as the recipient of the 2003 Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Professional Media Award.

The ARRL 2003 International Humanitarian Award

Last April, Young and Heaton sailed from Kanton Island, the Republic of Kiribati, carrying medical supplies for a 16-year old girl--unconscious and bleeding and in desperate need of medical attention--aboard the MV Te Taobe. The vessel was adrift without power some 100 nautical miles west of Kanton Island. At great personal risk, Young and Heaton set out in their 10-meter sailing vessel Don Henry in an attempt to catch up with the distressed vessel and deliver the medical supplies. Once under way, they maintained Amateur Radio contact with amateurs in the Seattle, Washington, area--among them Bob Preston, W7TSQ, who contacted the US Coast Guard in California and was put through to the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Hawaii. Preston provided the Coast Guard with the frequencies Young and Heaton were using.

"The supplies we carried were three bags of saline solution with necessary plumbing to make an IV supply, some iron tablets, a blood pressure cuff and a couple of sticks of tobacco from the people on Kanton," Heaton said in an account published last fall in The DX Magazine.

While another vessel, the Navigator Mars--a gas carrier--also responded to the Te Taobe's situation. While it arrived an hour sooner than the Don Henry, it carried no medical supplies to aid the ailing passenger, Heaton said.

"On instruction, Te Taobe set out a line with float and light attached, and I was able to maneuver Don Henry, under mainsail and engine, so that Mike was able to grab the line, tie on our bag and cast it all off well clear of our prop," Heaton reported in her DX Magazine account.

Not long after, the US Coast Guard cutter/icebreaker Polar Sea, returning from a tour of duty in Antarctica, intercepted the drifting ship to render additional assistance. The Polar Sea took aboard the young woman, an elderly man and an interpreter, provided medical treatment to the injured teenager and transported them to Kanton. The young woman and the elderly man subsequently were airlifted to American Samoa along with their interpreter.

The young woman reportedly has made a good recovery and returned to Kiribati. The Te Taobe was able to make it back to Tarawa under her own power. The captain of the Te Taobe is Tetabo, T30NAV.

Young said he and Heaton "are proud of our performance and humbled by the recognition awarded."

The action by Heaton and Young generated some positive public relations for Amateur Radio when Seattle TV station KING interviewed Preston about the incident last April.

"I think this really is a great story about how Amateur Radio still plays a vital basic communications role here in the starting years of the 21st century," said Denny Bowman, W7SNH, one of the Seattle-area stations involved in maintaining communication with Heaton and Young.

As winners of the 2003 ARRL International Humanitarian Award, Heaton and Young will receive a plaque or medallion.

Sari Krieger, winner of the 2003 Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Professional Media Award.

The 2003 Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Professional Media Award

The 2003 Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Professional Media Award was awarded to Sari Krieger, a staff writer with Virginia's Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger.

This award goes annually to a professional journalist or group of journalists for outstanding coverage of Amateur Radio in TV, radio, print or multimedia. The winner receives an engraved plaque and a check for $500.

Krieger's winning submission was a story about the negative effects of Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) on Amateur Radio, and the concerns of ham radio operators nationwide. Her story focused on the city of Manassas, Virginia, and its plans to implement BPL citywide.

Members of the League's Public Relations Committee judged the Leonard Award nominations. Committee member Rich Moseson, W2VU, said the piece represented "excellent, accurate coverage of a complex but important issue." PRC member and QST Contributing Editor Diane Ortiz, K2DO, described Krieger's submission as "fresh, topical, accurate and well-written." Krieger's entry was judged the best of six entries received.

In Amateur Radio circles, Bill Leonard--a former president of CBS--is remembered for his 1958 contribution to Sports Illustrated, "The Battle of the Hams," which describes the "sport of DXing." Leonard died in 1994. In 1996, he was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame.

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